The Enemy is Among Us
John I 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
John I 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
John I 2:20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
John I 2:21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
John I 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
John I 2:23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
There is much talk today about whether or not we are living in the end times. This speculation has been on the rise for the last fifty plus years. It seems to have been on the rise since 1948 when Israel became a nation once again and many began to teach that this was the sign that those who saw it, were the last generation.
Such end times speculation increased as the new millennium approached and the whole Y2K episode only added more fuel to an already raging fire. After the new millennium came and went, the speculation may have died down a bit only to be revived in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.
It would be very easy to answer this speculation if it weren’t for the fact that so many people who are asking questions about the end times don’t really know what they are asking. When people ask me if I think we are living in the end times, what they are really asking is if we are going to see Jesus come back in our lifetime. That is a question that no one can answer with certainty because Jesus told us that we could not know the day or the hour of his return. And, contrary to some speculation, we can’t know the year or the month or the week either.
The question about whether or not we are living in the end times is very easy to answer. The answer is yes. This is an absolute fact and there is no doubt about it. You see, the Bible teaches us that the end times began nearly two thousand years ago when Christ came to earth and that these end times will continue until he returns to earth again.
This is why John could say, almost two thousand years ago, that he and his readers were living in the last hour. Obviously, John wasn’t speaking of a literal sixty-minute hour. In the New Testament the “last times” or the “last days” or the “last hour” are all references to the last era of human history -- the Christian era. The Christian era is the end time because there is not going to be another era before Christ returns to establish his kingdom on the earth.
We are not waiting for another revelation from heaven. A third testament will never be written. We are not waiting for the coming of a great prophet to lead us into yet another dispensation of God’s grace. The Christian era is the last era and, therefore, it is the end times. This is the clear teaching of the New Testament in passages such as
Hebrews 1:1 which says, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these LAST DAYS he has spoken to us by his Son” and 1 Peter 1:20 which says, “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these LAST TIMES for your sake”.
The Bible also teaches us that one of the chief characteristics of the last days is the presence of false teachers. “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
Timothy I 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Timothy I 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
Because of the presence of these false teachers or antichrists we know that it is the end times (2:18).
The term ‘antichrist’ is unique to John’s epistles. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3 the antichrist is called “the man of lawlessness” and in Revelation 13 he is identified as “the beast” he is also referred to in other books of the Bible as the son of perdition, the man of sin, the wicked one, but John uses this term antichrist.
But what does this term mean? In the Greek “anti” can mean either “in the place of” or “in opposition to”. In the scriptures we find that both of these meanings will be true of the antichrist.
Thessalonians II 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God
This verse reveals that when the antichrist comes he will both oppose God and set himself up in place of God. The antichrists do the same things because they come in the spirit of the antichrist.
John I 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
The antichrist has not come yet, but his spirit has been actively working in the world through false teachers since the first century. Now why is John writing about these antichrist? John knew that his readers knew the truth, but he also knew that the antichrists were trying to lead them astray. Even though Christians know the truth they can still potentially be lead astray and so John has written to true believers to make sure that they remain true to the faith. John knew that if he wanted his readers to be on guard against antichrists he would need to tell them how to recognize an antichrist.
When something sounds too good to be true it is. This is also true with false prophets. Be careful of what you hear, if you find yourself thinking, this really sounds good, I never heard it that way before; you need to test it. Even everything that comes out of this pulpit you should test, look it up for yourself, don’t just think because I said it that it is true.
When you find out that it is true for yourself, ahh then it’s going to stick in your conscious mind and it will be something you can readily refer to. If you just rely what is being said, when it comes time for you to minister to someone or refute false teachings, you will find yourself unarmed. Your mind will be swimming with questions of what was that verse, what did the minister say that time. And before you know it the false teacher will have whipped so much out of contest scripture on you that you find yourself captured by the enemy.
It fascinated me with how Christians run and hide when false teachers come knocking at the door. But I found out the answer to that question. It is because they spend more time studying lies that we spend studying the truth. The only thing that can destroy a lie is the truth, and if the only thing around is lies, it is lie unto a snakebite with no serum, like a disease with no cure the lies will eventually bring death. And the death from believing a lie is a spiritual death that will eventually lead to an eternal death.
Let’s talk about some of the characteristics of an antirist.
An Antichrist is a factious person Separatist one who causes division.
The antichrists broke away from the true church and established their own religious communities. “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us” (2:19).
By breaking away from the true church they proved that they were not true Christians. However, we must remember that not every one who leaves the church, leaves the church. People can leave this church without leaving the true church, which is the body of Christ. We recognize that the true church is not our church only or even our denomination only, but the complete body of true believers in Jesus Christ where ever they may be found. Anytime a Bible teacher, church, or denomination breaks away from the true church and proclaim themselves to be the only true church they have become antichrists. You don’t have to study cults for long to discover that their leaders do exactly what the antichrists of John’s day did.
They gather their followers into communities, isolate them from the outside world, and try to influence more and more people with their teaching. Often times they claim an exalted status for themselves such messiah or prophet and by doing so they are setting themselves up “in the place of” God. Anytime that you see any or all of these things happening you need to be aware that these people are actually antichrists no matter how nice they seem. Just look at past events like the Jim Jones massacre, David Koresh at Waco. These men were antichrist and their following was great.
The spirit of antichrist is actively influencing the culture of our day in many ways. One of them runs along the lines of this separatism. Just as these cult leaders and false teachers have an over inflated view of their own importance so do many people today. This spirit manifests itself in pride, egotism, and individualism. We are fast becoming a society of individuals whose primary concern is for themselves only. A poll was taken of churchgoers that showed that a majority of them believed that their primary concern in life was not for God, family, or church, but for themselves. We are a culture whose values are seriously out of whack because we have allowed ourselves to be influenced by the spirit of antichrist. The Spirit of Christ is exactly the opposite of this spirit. The Spirit of Christ is a spirit of humility and concern for the needs of others. The Bible tells us that we are supposed to consider the needs of others as being more important than our own needs. It’s comfortable and easier to think only of yourself and of yourself before others. Selfishness is a big part of our born in sin nature. This is why John 3:3 Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. You will not see the kingdom of God think of yourself first or only.
Another characteristic of an antichrist is lying.
Antichrists are liars. And this clearly aligns them with their father the devil:
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
The antichrists build their following based on lies and deceit. They get people to follow them by telling them whatever they want to hear. The antichrists are the New Testament version of the Old Testament false prophet of whom Micah wrote:
Micah 2:11 If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
In other words, the people wanted a prophet like this because he told them what they wanted to hear whether it was the truth or not. People like this are another hallmark of the end times.
Timothy II 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
This has always been true of false teachers and cult leaders who deceive people into following them by lying to them and telling them what they want to hear. Beware of teachings that keep you comfortable. The Word of God keeps me convicted because of the constant struggle with the flesh. If you are listening to something that is not convicting or calling your life to be continuously transformed and more Christ like, then stop because this is false teaching.
This practice of the antichrists is just the opposite of what Jesus practiced in his ministry. Jesus always told people the truth whether they wanted to hear it or not. In fact, Jesus was more interested in telling the truth than in developing a following. Now I’m sure that Jesus wanted everyone to follow him because the Bible tells us that God wants everyone to be saved, but he wasn’t willing to sacrifice the truth in order to get that following.
One day a rich, young ruler came to Jesus and asked what he would have to do in order to have eternal life. Jesus told him that he needed to obey the commandments and when he heard this the rich, young ruler was happy. He told Jesus that he had kept the commandments since childhood. Then Jesus told him that he needed to sell all that he had and give it to the poor and then come and follow him. What!!!
When the man heard that he was sad because he couldn’t bring himself to give up all of his possessions and so he went away and didn’t follow Jesus. Now let’s think about that for a minute. If all Jesus was interested in was gathering a following this would have been the perfect guy to get. Why? Because he followed the commandments and that probably meant that he was also a tither. This young man was a rich tither. If you are looking to start a following who better to recruit than a rich tither? But Jesus wasn’t interested in getting a following just for the sake of having a following and feeling important. Jesus told him the truth even though he didn’t want to hear it. This is the Spirit of Christ -- the spirit of truth. The Lord will never sacrifice the truth for anything, including money and talent. And this is the attitude we should have in the church. This is the reason why you must come to Bible study to be in the choir. Do think that God is pleased with a choir that has talent but could not defend themselves in a simple conversation about what they believe and why they believe it. How can we stand up here and minister to the congregation when the truth is not in us. Ain’t been to church in a couple of months then you should not be up in the choir trying to minister through song because no one knows what spirit you have brought up in here. If we are going to forsake the anointing for talent then we may as well have praise and worship lead by R Kelly or Luke. The point is that to minister to God’s people you need the spirit of truth; you need to be lead by the Holy Spirit.
Finally the antichrist is a heretic. What is a heretic? A heretic is someone who holds to unorthodox beliefs. In other words, his theology is wrong. John could probably have brought out many false teachings of the antichrists but he chose to focus on one in particular -- Christology. Christology is the study of Christ. Their doctrine of Christ was seriously warped. Specifically they were guilty of denying that Jesus was the Christ.
“Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist -- he denies the Father and the Son” This Christology was a form of Gnostic teaching. You see, the gnostics believed in the man Jesus and they believed in the divine Christ, but they didn’t believe that the man Jesus was the divine Christ. They believed that the divine Christ came upon the man Jesus temporarily and that the Christ left Jesus just before the crucifixion. What they were doing was denying the full incarnation as John wrote in verse seven of his second epistle: “Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.”
By denying the Son in this way they were also guilty of denying the Father. “No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (2:23). John also records many statements of Jesus in his Gospel that support this. Jesus said: (John 10:30); “I and the Father are one” “(John 14:9) Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father”; and “(John 14:6). I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Christian scientist - Jesus Christ is a human man who demonstrated Christ.
Jehovah Witness - Jesus is not eternal but first born. He had a brother, Lucifer, who rebelled while Christ, who at the time was called Michael (the captain of Jehovah’s host) remained obedient.
Mormons - God is an exalted man. God himself was once as we are. When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body and brought Eve, one of his wives with him. He helped to make and organize this world. He is Michael the archangel -- the ancient of days.
Islamic –Jesus was just a prophet but not the Son of God.
It amazes me that the scripture is clear in regard to the path the heaven, but there are always those trying to take a shortcut. If there was a town that had only one road leading into it, you could not get to that town if you refused to take that road. Clearly there is no way to get to the Father if one insists on rejecting the only way that leads to the Father. If you are trying to get to heaven by any other means than through Jesus, it is like taking a box of leggos, throwing them in the air and expecting them to come down looking like the picture on the front. It is impossible and the bible tells us that without faith in Christ as your savior it is impossible to see heaven.
Such is the dilemma of the antichrists.
We learn from this that doctrine really does matter after all. It has been popular for some to say that they don’t get caught up in doctrine, they just love Jesus. But that kind of an attitude simply will not do. The Bible says: Timothy I 4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
Paul says that we are to watch our life and doctrine closely because life and doctrine are closely tied together. You simply cannot live a genuine Christian life if your doctrine of Christ is heresy. You cannot be saved if your doctrine of salvation is wrong. Doctrine is very, very important and so we need to know what we believe and why we believe it. How can we know if what a particular teacher is saying is true or not? The only effective was to recognize false teaching is to be familiar with the truth. For example, if you know that the Bible teaches that Jesus was both God and man and you hear a teacher saying that Jesus was just a good teacher then you immediately know that this teacher is a false teacher. This is why it is vitally important for you to be in God’s word every day. You need to read, study, and memorize God’s word so that when you come face to face with heresy you will be able to recognize it, refute it, and reject it.
Church the enemy is among us, but the question is what are you going to do about it. Are you going to surrender or are you going to fight. Are you going to arm yourself with the truth to right the wrongs, erase the lies and put down the false teachings.
What will you say when someone tells you that it doesn’t matter what religion you are in, we all worship the same God.
What will you say to the atheist who flatly asserts that there is no God?
What will you say to people who state that they are heavenly bound because they are just good people.
What will you say to someone who denies that Christ was resurrected, but wild dogs ate his body?
What will you say to someone who is telling you that the bible contradicts itself and is full of errors?
What will you say when confronted with the notion that only those who speak in tongues have received the Holy Spirit and are saved.
What will you say to someone today who claims to be an apostle?
What do you say to those who believe that there will only be 144,000 in heaven?
What will you say to those who believe that Jesus was a polygamous and the wedding he performed his first miracle was His own.
What will you say to those who question and curse God when tragedy strikes in their lives.
What will you say those who believe that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New testament are different.
There is plently of misguided selfserving false teachings running rampet throughout. The enemy is among us, will you prepare will you be ready, the Bible tells us to study to show ourselves approved unto God. This approval is for His army in the fight against false teachers.
I read a story about a soldier during the American Civil War, he was wounded and ordered to go to the rear. The fighting was fierce and within minutes he returned to the front line where his commanding officer was and said “Captain, give me a gun, this fight doesn’t have a rear.
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Ephesians 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Ephesians 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Ephesians 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Church the enemy is among us.
Cedric A. Portis
cedque8@cs.com
