Who are the beasts in your life?
Once in a sermon, Augustine asked his people if any of them was antichrist, as in opposing Christ, in character or unfaithfulness. The 1 John definition of antichrist, the only place in Scripture this term appears, simply means anyone who opposes Christ. It isn’t about an ominous opposing personality rising up and tricking us; rather, it is about our willingness to be tricked. God gives us a mind and incredible resources of His Spirit and Word; we have no excuse to be disloyal to our Lord. The call here is to heed the warning, not engage in vain speculation; rather, we are to make sure we are lined up to Him, loyal to our LORD! This means that as we lead our lives and run our churches, we have to seek Him and ask, are we being disloyal to our Lord? If so, guess what? The antichrist is not a political figure; it is you! We are the ones who are opposing Christ! This aspect is far more important that the speculations, because it all comes down to one thing, loyalty. Are you devoted to Christ or a slave to your will and to the manipulations of others?
This passage could also mean that Christians may think that as long as they are not worshipping in a pagan temple, they are OK; but, to be loyal to evil or compromise God’s Word is worshipping something that is not of God! What we can do is trust Christ and be prepared, and that is John’s message to us. Stand firm in faith and do not be carried away with trivialities or intense persecution.
Questions to Ponder:
- Why do these sings and wonders astonish people and, in turn, greatly deceive them? Do you believe people are personally responsible for allowing themselves to be deceived?
- What do you think this image is? What do you think the purpose is for the statue/image? How would you react to see this image come to life and speak? What would be the motivation for people to worship it?
- What do you see as the danger of the beast to us today, either personally or to the Church? What about relativism, diminishing values as Christians, replacing biblical teaching with faulty trends, and faulty logic and thinking?
- Why are there countless speculations on the mark and the number 666? Why would a pastor desire to preach by his personality and ignorance and not out of the Scriptures?
- What does it mean to you, as a Christian, to be watchful and loyal? Do you believe that when the beast does come there will be no mistaking of his identity? Then, how and why will Christians be tricked? What can we do to prevent ourselves from being deceived?
© 2006 R. J. Krejcir Ph.D. Into Thy Word Ministries http://www.intothyword.org
personally the anti Christ must be of the same race that Jesus or Emmanuel came from and born to some similar circumstances and perform a similar backwards baptism by the false prophet who might be a religious leader or the blood cousin of the anti messiah. but in actually what we know is actually the devil himself incarnated into flesh just as Jesus is god incarnated in human flesh.
just before the rapture occurs the anti messiah must be at least the same age as Jesus was when he began and ended his ministry on the cross with the anti messiah or false messiah claiming to bring peace and unity to the world after the rapture of the church. the anti messiah would perform counterfeit miracles and reverse the teachings of the bible to say it is not god’s divine word at all. he would then join ten old states that used to belong to the roman empire. he would revive the old ways of Rome and kill many Christians and Jews because they believe that Jesus is the real messiah. also those who do not have the mark of the beast 666 or as he calls it the holy right implant.
then the anti messiah would be defeated by the real messiah and he and his followers would be cast into the lake of fire and the devil would be chained in a bottomless pit for 1000 years and Jesus Christ the king of kings will reign for that time. then god the father would allow Satan the devil serpent out and tempt those who still have evil thoughts and deeds or sins that were not covered by the mercy of god and the blood that he shed on the cross. then Satan and all other evil fallen angels would be judged and sentenced to the lakes of fire. then Jesus and his father god will judged humankind. those who have willingly repented of their sins and ask Jesus into their hearts will enter paradise which is on the earth once again. those who have chosen the devil as their master or done wicked and unjust crimes against god, Jesus, the angels, humankind, or anything evil that they did not repent from will be cast into the lake of fire to be tortured forever. there is no such thing as reincarnation, limbo, or anything else other than the mercy of god and the blood of Jesus Christ that can save people from the lakes of fire and brimstone.