by
David J.
Stewart
1st John 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.”
The Bible tells us WHY we are living in the Last Days in 1st
John
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.” How do we know that it is the
Last Days?
Because there are MANY ANTICHRISTS!
The Apostle Paul believed that he was living
in the
Last Days because of the preponderance of Christ-rejecters in his day.
This
Scriptural principle still applies today. As the world becomes more
apostate, so
do the number of Christ-rejecters increase. There are over 1,000,000,000
Islamic
Muslims in the world who all deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God.
There are hundreds-of-millions of Buddhists and Hindus that also deny
the Lord.
Jews who follow Judaism deny that Jesus is the Christ. Over
1,000,000,000 Romans
Catholics errantly think that
devotion
to Mary
will get them into Heaven. It is tragic!
Jesus warned that the End Times would be once
again as
it was in Noah's time, when people only lived to enjoy the cares, riches
and
pleasures of this life (Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 8:14).
Only
8 people survived the flood. I dare say
that even one-percent of the world's population are truly born-again
Christians
(Matthew 7:13-14). Few
people will
enter into Heaven.
Many religious cults distort the Person,
character and
nature of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul warned about false prophets who
would
introduce to us ANOTHER Jesus, ANOTHER Gospel, and ANOTHER spirit (2nd
Corinthians 11:4). Galatians 1:9 proclaims a CURSE upon them all, for
corrupting
the Gospel. These are signs of the Last Days. Everywhere we turn
nowadays, we
are having false doctrines, false religions, false Christs, false
Gospels and
false Bibles introduced to us. Satan is working relentlessly to corrupt
churches
with New Age teachings, diminishing being born-again from a miracle of
God (John
1:12) into a mere feeling, experience or commitment to serve God.
Just as God parted the Red Sea to save the
Israelites
from the wrath of Pharaoh and Egypt's armies; so is salvation only of
the Lord.
God parted the Red Sea. The Israelites had absolutely nothing to do with
parting
the sea. Their only requirement was to walk through, and they did, on
dry
ground. Likewise, God saves a sinner who repents toward God in faith to
be
forgiven through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
This Scripture is NOT speaking about THE
Antichrist, who is coming soon to rule the world as an evil thug
dictator (2nd
Thessalonians 1:1-10). Rather, the term antichrists
(plural)
refers to religious fakes (Modernists) and false prophets. A “Modernist”
is
someone who talks about spiritual matters, but is not a genuine
born-again
Christian. Some popular Modernists are: The Pope, Oprah Winfrey, John
MacArthur,
Carter Heyward, John Edward, Benny Hinn, Ellen G. White, Ron Hubbard,
Joseph
Smith, Charles Russell, Mary Baker Eddy, and thousands more. 1st John
2:19
teaches that many of them began in the Church... “They went out
from us,
but they were not of us.”
2nd Timothy 3:5 describes these people as, “Having
a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”
That “power” is the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ to him that
believeth
(Romans 1:16). To those who don't believe, it is worthless. Many of the
Israelites who wandered in the Wilderness for 40-years, died and went to
Hell in
their sins, because they heard the Gospel; but it wasn't “mixed
with faith
in them that heard it” (Hebrews 4:2).
Others add self-righteous works to their faith
(Ephesians 2:8-9), which is no faith at all in the Lord (Romans 11:6).
Dr. John
MacArthur requires sinners to try really hard to stop sinning in order
to be
saved (which he wrongly defines as repentance). MacArthur has it
all
backwards. You get saved first, and then God makes the changes; You
don't make
the changes, and then God saves you. Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron and John
MacArthur wrongly teach that a person must REFORM as part of being
REGENERATED
by the Holy Spirit of God; but the Bible teaches that a person cannot
REFORM
until they've been REGENERATED.
2nd Corinthians 5:17 says that IF ANY MAN BE
IN CHRIST
he is a new creature. Notice that this is after-the-fact. A man cannot
be a new
creature until he is already in Christ. In other words, a changed life
is the
FRUIT of genuine repentance unto salvation; and not a part of the ROOT
of
saving-faith to be saved (Romans 4:5).
A sure sign according to the Bible of living
in the
LAST DAYS is the preponderance of false prophets, Christ-rejecters, and
religious phonies in the churches. 2nd Timothy 3:1, “This know also,
that in
the last days perilous times shall come.” The word “perilous” is the
Greek
chalepos and means, “hard to endure, difficult, dangerous;
through the
idea of losing strength.” We are certainly living in trying times of our
Christian faith. 2nd Timothy 3:12 teaches that all those who live godly
in
Christ Jesus shall (not possibly or maybe, but shall) suffer
persecution. This
lost and dying sinful world hates Jesus, hates the Bible, hates
Christianity and
hates all genuine Christians (John 15:19). You can display anything that
is
Islamic, Buddhist or Jewish and no one cares; but if you dare display
anything
Christian, such as a manger at Christmas, all the hordes of Hell will
come after
you, and everyone has a heart-attack.
There have never been as many religious fakes
in
churches as today. There have never been as many false prophets as
today. There
have never been as many Christ-rejecters as today. There have never been
as many
false Bible as today. There have never been as many corrupted Gospel as
today.
All around the world, people are turning to a Luciferian type of
one-size-fits-all religion, that puts forth the teaching that sincerity
is all
that matters, and that there are many paths to the light and
reincarnation.
These New Age philosophies are rooted in demonic Buddhist, Hindu and
ancient
Egyptian and Babylonian mysticism.
Whether it be the occultist
Alice
Ann Bailey
(1880-1949), Pat Robertson's
CBN
which promotes New
Age psychologists, or the
Satanic
Pope who says people with no Biblical faith can go to Heaven... New
Age is
the Luciferian religion of the End Times. Christ-rejecters, Gospel
corrupters,
Bible perverters, church-infiltrators, and Bible-deniers are everywhere
today.
1st John 2:18 proclaims that we are living in
the LAST
DAYS. And the Bible tells us how we know this truth... because there are
many
antichrists in the world today. Never before have we seen so
many
people attacking the Bible, the precious name of Jesus, and
Christianity. Every
Hollywood movie blasphemes God by cursing in His holy name. Every
Hollywood
movie uses the precious name of “Jesus” as a curse word. The word
“wicked” has
been redefined by evil people to mean something good; thus eliminating
one of
the few words available to describe the awfulness of sin. The King James
Bible
mentions the word “wicked” 421 times in the Old Testament. Yet Hollywood
mocks
God, attacks the Bible, and commits a grave sin by misapplying the word
“wicked.”
If Jesus didn't really exist, or was not truly
the Son
of God as the Bible teaches, then why would every nation on the face of
the
earth be so hateful against Him? If the Bible is not true, then why are
so many
of the world's leaders, music and movie producers, and Hollywood
celebrities,
hostile toward the cause of Christ and the Word of God?
Christianity is
unique!
You can belong to any religion and people don't care; but born-again
Christians
are hated the world over. This is because all false religions are owned
by
Satan. 1st John 4:4, “Ye are of God, little children, and have
overcome them:
because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” It
is
Jesus Christ Who is within the believer (Romans 8:9). Satan is the god
of this
evil world (2nd Corinthians 4:4).
It is so obvious that we are living in the
Last Days.
1st John 2:18 plainly states that antichrists would abound
in the
Last Days, and we see them everywhere today. From Christ-rejecting
Hollywood
celebrities, to lewd Country music singers, to degenerate Rock 'N' Roll
singers,
to criminal Federal Reserve Banksters, to rebellious feminists, to
murdering
abortionists, to lying evolutionists, to arrogant humanists, to foolish
atheists, to the rotten lying newsmedia who mislead the public
concerning the
truth—they are all antichrists who are the enemies of God
(James
4:4).
2nd Peter 3:9 teaches that the only reason the
Lord
hasn't returned yet is because He is waiting for people to repent. God
is
long-suffering and patient, not willing for any to perish. When the
Gospel is no
longer being preached because of Communist Police State oppression,
perverted
Bibles, corrupted churches and worldwide apostasy; then I think the Lord
will
return, because that is when the fewest people will be getting saved.
There are
more people against Jesus Christ today than ever before. Most of the
people who
claim the name of Jesus today are false prophets, following a
works-based false
gospel, which is
exactly
what Catholics follow.
Manmade traditions are a road to Hell beneath.
“Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation
22:20).