Purpose of This Post
If you follow YouTube and various social media, you have likely seen the flurry of posts about who some think is The Antichrist in the world today. The truth is that the spirit of antichrist, along with all the other demonic spirits, was birthed in the Garden of Eden and has been in the world since the beginning of time.
The lawless spirit of antichrist operated through kings, priests, prophets and religions throughout the Old Testament of the Bible. My purpose in this post is not to try to identify The Antichrist, but to provide an understanding of the demonic spirit of antichrist which operates in New Testament times, even today.
The answer is simple in concept, difficult in application. Let’s begin with how we identify the Spirit of Christ in Romans 8:1-2:
- “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
So, we identify the Spirit of Christ from the behaviors and the fruit of His Spirit in ourselves and others. While every person that accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior embarks on a journey, or spiritual process, accepting Jesus as Lord brings His grace by the power of His Spirit to make changes in our lives, assuming we let Him in!
Does this mean that everyone that does this is instantly made perfect? Of course not! It is, however, endeavoring to follow Christ as our example and choosing to endure the hardship and suffering that is necessary to be conformed to His image, which is God’s plan for every believer.
We can identify the Spirit of Christ in governments, politicians, churches, denominations, church leadership and all human beings, by determining if they act like Christ or like The Antichrist! In several of my previous posts, I have discussed the attributes of Christ for your consideration. Here, briefly, I will present a few of the attributes of the spirit of antichrist.
The spirit of antichrist
If we can identify those possessing the Spirit of Christ by their behavior, it logically follows we should be able to identify those possessing the spirit of antichrist in the same way. Here is a brief look at some paraphrases of the attributes of the Antichrist from Scripture:
- Daniel 11:36—The Antichrist does exactly as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god. He will speak astounding and disgusting things which are against The God of gods. He will prosper until the indignation is finished.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:9—The Antichrist is lawless and will come through the activity of Satan. He will perform counterfeit miracles, deceptive signs and false wonders, all of which are lies.
- 1 John 2:22—The Antichrist is a liar, and the enemy and antagonist of Christ. He is one who consistently refuses to acknowledge (give credit to) the Father and the Son.
- 1 John 4:3—Every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God, by denying Christ’s true nature, is the spirit of the antichrist already in this world.
The antichrist spirit is anybody who tries to draw people away from Jesus by getting people to worship someone or something other than Jesus! Simply put, the spirit of antichrist is against Christ. Through its behaviors and actions, it is an antagonist of Christ. It is a false spirit. It is the ultimate deception!
It matters who we follow
Again, determining who to follow in Christian life is simple to decide, but difficult to do. As mentioned above, the spirit of antichrist has been in the world since the beginning of time. It has operated through Satan as a deceiving spirit. You remember, the serpent told Eve that to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would make her like God. She and Adam fell for it!
The deceiver is still at work today! Here are a few of the ways it may be expressed by people. Religious denominations different than ours are of the devil. We must be involved in politics to see God’s plan done on the earth. Factions of politics other than our “stream” are the enemy. Any human being different than us is treated as a non-person (immigrant, homeless, trans, LGBTQ, etc). The end can be justified by the means. God told me…..,, and so on.
Although many politicians and church leaders try to convince us we have no choice but to follow them, we do have free will! One of our free will choices is between following the Spirit of Christ or the spirit of antichrist. As we approach the end of time, we will receive whatever our chosen leader receives! Some have called it the residual anointing. My version is "what you sit under gets on you!"
We have a choice between life and death! We have chosen life if we follow Jesus, if we are seeking to be like Him. If we are following a deceiver, we are choosing death! What have you chosen?
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