COMMUNISM: THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST IN OUR AGE
TEXT: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” (I JOHN 4:1-3 NKJV); with, “that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world…” (PHP. 2:15 NKJV).
For this message, I will use the term “Communism” for convenience, because it is generally known and understood by most people. True Communism, as conceived by Karl Marx, in his “Communist Manifesto,” has never been achieved in any country. The political systems of the former Soviet Union, and which is now in effect in China, North Korea, Cuba, Viet Nam, Laos, and Venezuela, are tyrannical, Socialist Dictatorships, which I will refer to as Communism throughout this message. I mean to show that World Communism is the current and primary expression and sign of the spirit of Antichrist and is the purest expression of evil that is in the world today.
INTRODUCTION:
The Apostle John wrote that in his day the spirit of Antichrist was already at work in the world. The Apostle Paul reminded the Philippian Church, that in his day, Christians, who were the children of God were also living amid a crooked and perverse generation, manifesting the Antichrist spirit. It has not changed. The spirit of Antichrist is still at work in our day too.
Pastor John MacArthur commented on I John 4:3. He said, “The same demonic deception that will work to produce the final world ruler who rules as the false Christ is always actively seeking to distort Jesus Christ’s true nature, perverting the gospel. The final Antichrist will not be something new but will be the ultimate embodiment of all the Antichrist spirits that have perverted truth and propagated satanic lies since the beginning.”
The spirit of Antichrist has been in the world since satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden and brought about mankind’s fall from the grace of God. In his book, “Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents,” Rod Dreher said of that spirit of Antichrist: “This spiritual power takes material form in government and private institution, in corporations, in academia and media, and in the changing practices of everyday American life…there is virtually nowhere to hide.” I would add that, in my opinion, this Antichrist spirit has almost completely taken over the leadership of one particular American Political party, that is intending to overthrow our Constitutionally-based form of government.
Although brewing since 2013 with the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO., but beginning in force in May 2020, the Lord allowed the spirit of Antichrist to be more fully unleashed. American cities burned, as lawlessness, rebellion, destruction of property, turmoil, mayhem, and murder ruled our streets.
There are only two masters that mankind can follow, either Christ or the devil. Jesus told the scribes, Pharisees, and Jews in John 8:44: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” Who are these modern-day, knowing, or unknowing tools of their father, the devil, who, like him murder and lie, and who burned our cities in the summer of 2020?
Who are they? They are the “Deep State” – lifetime bureaucrats who can’t be fired. They are open-border advocates; they are international bankers; they are open Socialist/Marxists like BLM and Antifa. Others are the World Economic Forum, the U.N., and the individuals and groups allied with those organizations. These globalists have worked for decades toward the goal of a one-world government, ruled by elites. What they don’t understand is that the world they think THEY will rule over, will one day be taken over by THE Antichrist, who will strip their power and cast aside all those who no longer serve his purpose.
All these individuals and groups are conspiring to bring the world into such a state of despair, that people all over the world will agree to submit to the rule of the Antichrist. He will promise peace until the terror of the Great Tribulation begins. Jesus said this would be the most terrible time that mankind had ever seen -- when people would want to die but couldn’t. So, for a time, the Lord will allow the devil to rule the earth through the Antichrist.
For just a few minutes, I want to give a warning, and talk about some of the current, manifestations of the spirit of the Antichrist as manifested through the Communist doctrines of Divide and Conquer, Critical Race Theory, and White Privilege.
I. DIVIDE AND CONQUER
A. Satan's tactic has always been to divide and conquer. The Antichrist spirit started in the Garden of Eden when he sowed division between Adam and Eve, with the ultimate goal of separating them both from God’s blessing and presence.
B. He lied to Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?’” He was insinuating that God didn’t really say that, or that she misheard God. Then Eve made the mistake of conversing with the devil. She said, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
C. Satan lied again, saying God had lied to her, He said, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” She ate - we fell.
D. His divide and conquer tactics have never changed. In Exodus 32, we see this. When Moses went up Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, satan caused division in the ranks of the Israelites. They got tired of waiting and made themselves an idol, a golden calf, to worship as their god. They said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” (Ex. 32:4). When Moses came down, he said, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side—come to me!” (vs 26). God ruled and overruled, and three thousand people who had the spirit of Antichrist were killed that day.
E. In Elijah’s day, satan used his “divide and conquer” method, causing the people to worship “Baal.” In I Kings 18, Elijah said to the people, “How long will you halt between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him” (vs 21). God always wins, and Elijah defeated the Antichrist spirit when God sent fire down out of heaven to consume the sacrifice and Elijah had the prophets of Baal executed.
F. I could give many more Biblical references to his “divide and conquer” strategy and this continues on today through the Antichrist spirit of Communism.
G. Karl Marx, the founder of modern Communism was not an atheist, but a devil worshiper and God-hater. Communism is based on satan’s original method of pitting one group against another, and has tortured, starved, and killed more people than any ideology in history.
1. The rich (the bourgeoisie) are pitted against the poor (the proletariat); the factory workers against the factory owners; the farmworkers against the farmworkers, the rich against the poor, etc.
2. This tactic was used by Lenin and the Bolsheviks to bring Communism to Russia, by Mao Zedong in China, and in every other Communist takeover.
H. In America, it was different. A person could start poor and end up rich, or vice versa. One could start out working for a company and end up owning it, so a different version of the divide and conquer method had to be used by satan’s Communist followers here.
I. In a lecture by G. Edward Griffin, given almost 50 years ago, and still on YouTube, he stated that in 1928 the Communists declared that the racial differences between Americans was our weakest point, and where we would be most vulnerable to the “divide and conquer” tactic. By constantly probing and straining at that one point, Americans could be divided, weakened, and even set against each other in open combat. They wanted hatred, violence, and bloodshed between the races.
J. Divide and conquer is a Communist, Antichrist spirit plot of the devil, and we see it today in BLM’s tactics. This leads to the next method that satan uses in the manifestation of the Antichrist spirit of Communism.
I. CRITICAL RACE THEORY (CRT)
A. CRT in a nutshell: All Blacks and people of color are oppressed, and all Whites are the oppressors. CRT is taught in colleges and universities, high schools, and churches. It was pioneered by James Cone, a black, Marxist professor from Harvard. He gave a lecture called “The Black Church and Marxism: What do they have to say to each other.” He was a leader of black liberation theology which held that white American churches preached a gospel based on white supremacy, which is opposed to the gospel of Jesus. But CRT is just part and parcel of the devilish, Communistic, “Divide and Conquer” technique.
B. CRT holds that the law and legal institutions are all inherently racist, and that race itself is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of color so that white people can maintain elite white interests in labor markets and politics. They want to make people believe, that if you’re white, you’re automatically racist, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
C. The Chinese American Citizens Alliance of NYC has this to say about Critical Race Theory: “Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a hateful, divisive, manipulative fraud.”
D. CRT is totally against the teaching of the Bible. Acts 17:26 says that God “…has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth…”, meaning that from God’s perspective, there is only one race: the human race.
E. The Bible says, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:27-28), meaning Christians, black and white are in the same family – Christ’s family! If you say you are a Christian, whether white, black, or brown, or whatever skin color, but are prejudiced against other races, you ARE NOT a child of God.
F. Critical Race Theory is a Communist, Antichrist spirit scheme of the devil, period!
II. WHITE PRIVILEGE
A. White privilege is a social theory held primarily in Western countries and developed in America. Proponents of white privilege teach that white people experience more privileges and status than non-white people. They hold that anyone born white is assumed to have privilege over those of color regardless of any personal skills or accomplishments.
B. In this theory, a poorly educated white person, living below the poverty line, with few material goods or luxuries of life, supposedly has more advantages than a black college graduate with a six-figure salary, living in a mansion and driving a Rolls Royce.
C. This is just another manifestation of the Antichrist spirit! The God of the Bible makes no distinction between people based on race or skin color.
D. Gal. 3:26–29 (CEB) says, “You are all God’s children through faith in Christ Jesus. All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Now if you belong to Christ, then indeed you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.”
E. The Apostle John’s vision in Revelation gives the lie to the theory of “White Privilege.” People of every color and every nation will make up the Body of Christ on the final day. He wrote, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Rev. 7:9-10 ESV).
F. I Timothy 6:16-18 says, “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share…” In other words, any Christian who is “privileged” should live to be a blessing to others.
G. The Abolitionist Movement, which helped energize and bring awareness to the evils of slavery and prior to the American Civil War was Christian-led. It must not be forgotten that 364,511 Union soldiers died in the Civil War to free the slaves. The majority were white, and if they belonged to a political party, they were Republicans. 179,000 black men also served as soldiers in the Union Army and 19,000 in the Navy. Nearly 40,000 black, Union soldiers died during the war Civil War.
H. The reason people from all the other countries of the world want to come to America is because America is the LEAST (bold and underline added for emphasis) racist country in the history of the world, and the beacon of freedom for all, and that is due to America’s founding doctrines of biblical, Judeo-Christian principles and beliefs. “White Privilege” is just a lie of the devil and another manifestation of Communism’s hate-filled, Antichrist spirit.
I. Ironically, White Privilege is ITSELF RACIST! It stands totally against Rev. Martin Luther King’s dream, based on his Christian faith, of a color-blind society. In his famous “I Have A Dream” speech, he said, “I have a dream…that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day… right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”
Closing:
The primary reason for this message is to warn all who hear that we are living in the generation that may see the second coming of our Lord. The fact that a fuller and more complete expression of the Antichrist spirit, which precedes His second coming, being primarily promoted in our age through World Communism, proves this. Suffice it to say, that though the spirit of Anti-Christ is running rampant, God is not the author of evil, nor does He tempt or coerce people to do evil. He never approves of evil but hates evil.
Still, He is allowing evil to increase so that His perfect plan for His creation will be fulfilled. Remember, it is the Lord and His Christ Who rules over-all, through-all, and in-all. When the cup of His wrath is full, He will send His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to rule with a rod of iron, and exact justice on those who have not surrendered their lives to Him. I beseech you, run to Christ and call on His mercy. You’ll find Him to be an ever-present friend and protector. He will keep in your hour of trial and deliver you from His wrath, which is coming soon.
