The Spirit of Anti-Christ in the Last Time

1 Samuel 2:12-17

The high priest of Israel at the time of this text was a man named Eli. He had two sons that were priests as well, but who had no relationship with the Lord. Nothing is more dangerous than people in leadership that “know not the Lord” (verse 12).

According to chapter one, their names are Hophni and Phinehas. Hophni means “fighter”, while Phinehas means “mouth of brass”. Both boys use their position as priest to their gain, meeting the people at the altar and taking their sacrifices away from them before they can offer them to the Lord. The priests were allowed to have whatever was left over from a sacrifice for their own consumption, but to take it raw, before it could be offered, kept the offerer from receiving absolution from their sins. This form of raw or sodden meat was off limits, but the two brothers didn’t seem to care.

When Israel came out of Egypt, God told them to eat the lamb of the Passover, “roast with fire, not sodden”. They were to eat it cooked, not raw. The reason for this is that the lamb was a type of Christ, who must be consumed as a crucified Savior. Only the finished work of Jesus, not the life of Jesus, will change lives. Many are asking what Jesus would do or say, but the greatest question should be, “What DID Jesus do at the cross?”

These two priests represent the spirit of anti-Christ in this final hour. John said that in the last time there are “many anti-Christ’s” (1 John 2:18). We often view the Anti-Christ as the one who comes during the Tribulation, but the Bible never refers to him by that title. Rather, in this final hour the anti-Christ that John is speaking of will take away the power and authority of the real Christ. Unfortunately, we are seeing less and less of the crucified Christ with His loveliness and cleansing power. It is not because Jesus is less powerful, but because our combative spirit and mouth of brass has thrown law and works at the comers to the altar for so long, that the people have begun to despise the entire process (1 Samuel 2:17).

In your walk today, recognize that the cross of Christ is a finished work, with no assistance needed from you. Do not give that grace to yourself only, but be ready to share it with everyone that you come in contact with. If you have been hearing the “fighter” and the “mouth of brass”, then salvation has become less about resting in His finished work, and more about doing something to please God. Relax in His presence today, with the only laboring that you do, being the labor to enter into rest (Hebrews 4:11).

Open the gift of righteousness which Jesus paid for, so that you could have abundant life. May His grace and peace follow you today!

(Need more information on today’s topic? Contact the ministry and ask for Pastor Paul’s sermon, “The Spirit of Anti-Christ in the Last Time” on CD. It is our gift to you! God bless.)

When God Takes Us Out of the Way

2 Thessalonians 2:3-12

Can you imagine the arrival of a world leader who rose to prominence with powerful signs and wonders, bringing peace to rival nations and establishing his own universal religion? Surely the church of Jesus Christ would have a little something to say about that! The church is the very thing that holds something, or someone, like that from coming to pass. With the seal of the Holy Spirit and the power of the name of Jesus, the church is the great dam that holds back so many powerful tricks of the enemy.

Someday, we will be removed, taken away to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17), while those left here on earth will suffer beneath that “Wicked” (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Prior to this verse, Paul told the church that “only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way”. The word “letteth” is the word “hinder” in the Greek, showing us that something is hindering the arrival of the Wicked One of verse 8. That someone is the Holy Spirit within the church. When we are gone, the floodwaters can come.

The Tribulation of this world is God’s wrath coming down on a world that has long rejected the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ. You and I cannot experience this wrath because we are spared from that wrath by the blood of Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1, 9). Paul’s confirms this in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 when he tells us that “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ”. We are not appointed to undergo the testing of this earth; we cannot be, for Jesus has already endured wrath for us.

The Wicked One is also called the Anti-Christ, and he will deceive many by using great powers of darkness (verse 9). Notice the terminology of verses 10-12, with all references to believing being in the past tense. Paul is writing of a time when people “received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (verse 10). He does NOT say, “They will not receive the love of the truth”, for he is speaking of people who have already had their chance. Many people will be left behind when Christ raptures out His church, and most of them will still not accept Christ because they will live under a strong delusion, believing a lie (2:11).

We have no reason to fear this time period, for we must be removed by God in order for Him to maintain His justice. Paul wrote that in order for God to show forth how righteous that He is, He must justify all of those who place faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:26). If He leaves us here and kills us wholesale with plagues and diseases, then He is punishing us along with the lost souls of this world, ignoring our faith in Christ and His finished work, and punishing us twice for all of our sins. Our God is bigger than that, and He is better than that. Pray that He come quickly and take us out of the way!

The Spirit of Anti-Christ in the Last Time

1 Samuel 2:12-17

The high priest of Israel at the time of this text was a man named Eli. He had two sons that were priests as well, but who had no relationship with the Lord. Nothing is more dangerous than people in leadership that “know not the Lord” (verse 12).

According to chapter one, their names are Hophni and Phinehas. Hophni means “fighter”, while Phinehas means “mouth of brass”. Both boys use their position as priest to their gain, meeting the people at the altar and taking their sacrifices away from them before they can offer them to the Lord. The priests were allowed to have whatever was left over from a sacrifice for their own consumption, but to take it raw, before it could be offered, kept the offerer from receiving absolution from their sins. This form of raw or sodden meat was off limits, but the two brothers didn’t seem to care.

When Israel came out of Egypt, God told them to eat the lamb of the Passover, “roast with fire, not sodden”. They were to eat it cooked, not raw. The reason for this is that the lamb was a type of Christ, who must be consumed as a crucified Savior. Only the finished work of Jesus, not the life of Jesus, will change lives. Many are asking what Jesus would do or say, but the greatest question should be, “What DID Jesus do at the cross?”

These two priests represent the spirit of anti-Christ in this final hour. John said that in the last time there are “many anti-Christ’s” (1 John 2:18). We often view the Anti-Christ as the one who comes during the Tribulation, but the Bible never refers to him by that title. Rather, in this final hour the anti-Christ that John is speaking of will take away the power and authority of the real Christ. Unfortunately, we are seeing less and less of the crucified Christ with His loveliness and cleansing power. It is not because Jesus is less powerful, but because our combative spirit and mouth of brass has thrown law and works at the comers to the altar for so long, that the people have begun to despise the entire process (1 Samuel 2:17).

In your walk today, recognize that the cross of Christ is a finished work, with no assistance needed from you. Do not give that grace to yourself only, but be ready to share it with everyone that you come in contact with. If you have been hearing the “fighter” and the “mouth of brass”, then salvation has become less about resting in His finished work, and more about doing something to please God. Relax in His presence today, with the only laboring that you do, being the labor to enter into rest (Hebrews 4:11).

Open the gift of righteousness which Jesus paid for, so that you could have abundant life. May His grace and peace follow you today!

(Need more information on today’s topic? Contact the ministry and ask for Pastor Paul’s sermon, “The Spirit of Anti-Christ in the Last Time” on CD. It is our gift to you! God bless.)

When God Takes Us Out of the Way

2 Thessalonians 2:3-12

Can you imagine the arrival of a world leader who rose to prominence with powerful signs and wonders, bringing peace to rival nations and establishing his own universal religion? Surely the church of Jesus Christ would have a little something to say about that! The church is the very thing that holds something, or someone, like that from coming to pass. With the seal of the Holy Spirit and the power of the name of Jesus, the church is the great dam that holds back so many powerful tricks of the enemy.

Someday, we will be removed, taken away to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17), while those left here on earth will suffer beneath that “Wicked” (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Prior to this verse, Paul told the church that “only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way”. The word “letteth” is the word “hinder” in the Greek, showing us that something is hindering the arrival of the Wicked One of verse 8. That someone is the Holy Spirit within the church. When we are gone, the floodwaters can come.

The Tribulation of this world is God’s wrath coming down on a world that has long rejected the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ. You and I cannot experience this wrath because we are spared from that wrath by the blood of Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1, 9). Paul’s confirms this in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 when he tells us that “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ”. We are not appointed to undergo the testing of this earth; we cannot be, for Jesus has already endured wrath for us.

The Wicked One is also called the Anti-Christ, and he will deceive many by using great powers of darkness (verse 9). Notice the terminology of verses 10-12, with all references to believing being in the past tense. Paul is writing of a time when people “received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (verse 10). He does NOT say, “They will not receive the love of the truth”, for he is speaking of people who have already had their chance. Many people will be left behind when Christ raptures out His church, and most of them will still not accept Christ because they will live under a strong delusion, believing a lie (2:11).

We have no reason to fear this time period, for we must be removed by God in order for Him to maintain His justice. Paul wrote that in order for God to show forth how righteous that He is, He must justify all of those who place faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:26). If He leaves us here and kills us wholesale with plagues and diseases, then He is punishing us along with the lost souls of this world, ignoring our faith in Christ and His finished work, and punishing us twice for all of our sins. Our God is bigger than that, and He is better than that. Pray that He come quickly and take us out of the way!

The Spirit of Anti-Christ in the Last Time

1 Samuel 2:12-17

The high priest of Israel at the time of this text was a man named Eli. He had two sons that were priests as well, but who had no relationship with the Lord. Nothing is more dangerous than people in leadership that “know not the Lord” (verse 12).

According to chapter one, their names are Hophni and Phinehas. Hophni means “fighter”, while Phinehas means “mouth of brass”. Both boys use their position as priest to their gain, meeting the people at the altar and taking their sacrifices away from them, before they can offer them to the Lord. The priest was allowed to have whatever was left over from a sacrifice for their own consumption, but to take it raw, before it could be offered, kept the offerer from receiving absolution from their sins. This form of raw, or sodden meat was off limits. But they didn’t seem to care.

When Israel came out of Egypt, God told them to eat the lamb of the Passover, “roast with fire, not sodden”. They were to eat it cooked, not raw. The reason for this, is that the lamb was a type of Christ, who must be consumed as a crucified Savior. Only the finished work of Jesus, not the life of Jesus that will change lives. Many are asking what Jesus would do or say, but the greatest question should be, “What DID Jesus do at the cross?”

These two priests represent the spirit of anti-Christ in this final hour. John said that in the last time there are “many anti-Christ’s” (1 John 2:18). We often view the Anti-Christ as the one who comes during the Tribulation, but the Bible never refers to him by that title. Rather, in this final hour the anti-Christ that John is speaking of will take away the power and authority of the real Christ. Unfortunately, we are seeing less and less of the crucified Christ, His loveliness and His cleansing power. It is not because Jesus is less powerful, but because our combative spirit and mouth of brass has thrown law and works at the comers to the altar for so long, that the people have begun to despise the entire process (1 Samuel 2:17).

In your walk today, recognize that the cross of Christ is a finished work, with no assistance needed from you. Do not give that grace to yourself only, but be ready to share it with everyone that you come in contact with. If you have been hearing the “fighter” and the “mouth of brass”, then salvation has become less about resting in His finished work, and more about doing something to please God. Relax in His presence today, with the only laboring that you do, being the labor to enter into rest (Hebrews 4:11).

Open the gift of righteousness which Jesus paid for, so that you could have abundant life. May His grace and peace follow you today!

(Need more information on today’s topic? Contact the ministry and ask for Pastor Paul’s sermon, “The Spirit of Anti-Christ in the Last Time” on CD. It is our gift to you! God bless.)