And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Joh 8:32
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. 1Jn 4:3
October 8, 2021
In the scripture above, John tells how to recognize the antichrist spirit by a person’s refusal to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ but there are many other signs in scripture. If one understands the Spirit of Christ, it becomes easier to recognize the spirit of the antichrist; because the antichrist spirit opposes Christ’s spirit and is the opposite. Christ is love and His Spirit brings life, peace, joy and liberty. The antichrist is Satan’s spirit; and it is hate, bringing death, chaos and bondage. Those that side with the characteristics of either prove their allegiance to that spiritual leader, whether God or Satan. From the days of disobedience in the Garden of Eden, Satan took mankind captive and brought him under his spirit that rebels against God. Non-Christians still reside there and Satan’s characteristics are normal behavior for them. Apostle Paul takes the time in Galatians Chapter 5 to identify Satan’s characteristics in the flesh or natural man that is under control of Satan until or unless the person becomes born again:
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies,… Gal 5:19-21 (ESV)
One message of the bible is made very clear: Christ came to offer us life and liberty. Galatians 5 also lists the characteristics of the spiritual children of God: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. In Rom 14:17 (KJV) Paul sums it up as “peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Even though few Christians have fully matured and none are perfect, the list of characteristics in Galatians helps us to discern a person’s spirit and know whether they are children of God or the children of Satan. Everything the antichrist does takes away freedom and brings one into bondage or submission to the evil one. So, if Christ brings freedom; then the adversary of Christ and mankind brings entrapment for bondage and destruction.
Matthew Chapter 5 tells the story of a man who had been taken over completely by evil spirits so that he lived in the tombs. That degree of consumption by evil may be rare in our society, but it does show the level of deterioration one can come to by following the evil one. There are so many ways the devil tries to take mankind into his bondage as he lords over lying and stealing, but his goal is always to take full control through any means necessary. The antichrist spirit is always one that seeks to dominant and control. We see that spirit in many areas of our life today and especially in politics, but let’s put more sunlight on how it operates.
An example of the antichrist’s spirit from history is told in the American story. Remember our choices are to operate in the spirit of God or the spirit of the enemy. The colonists said they left Europe for freedom to worship God in the new world, but the spirit that they displayed to the Indians was the exact opposite spirit. They brought death, chaos and bondage to the Indian nations instead of Christian love. Their Christian discipleship did not protect the Indians from broken agreements and being pushed onto reservations. While the settlers set up churches of various religions to worship God, they kidnapped Africans for slaves and put them in bondage to do their work of nation building. (Read my new book for more on this*). There are countries around the globe where the citizens know they live in bondage to authoritarian rule set on robbing and oppressing them, but America has always projected freedom for all its people whether it was true or not. So as the scripture above states in John, the spirit of antichrist is “even now already in the world.” We have just failed to identify it as such. It is important to uncloak this spirit since we know that it will soon uncover itself in a scheme to take massive control over a disobedient people (2Th 2:3).
The antichrist spirit is dominating and controlling today; but in civil society, it often uses subtlety to operate under cover. The wonder of our day here in America is that people have forgotten how uncivilized people behave and they are wondering what is wrong with people because of their lapse of memory about our history. Satan’s desire is always to take over and show his authority and power but he can use only as much power as people allow him. People without restraint give him much freedom to act out and he uses it. The lust for money and power has caused some Americans to use unrestrained behavior over the past five years. American religion, which usually sides with God, has given its authority over for uncivilized behavior and has done it under the guise of the name of Jesus. The devil has no problem using religion to do his work, he has churches too.
Even though the original declaration of America was for freedom; unfortunately, our nation of people has come to be one that seeks power and money above sanctification and has organized its people to take orders from leaders with those motivations. God came down to disrupt the Towel of Babel (Gen11:9) because the people had organized themselves together under their own authority to do something contrary to the will of God. In Sodom and Gomorrah, the people had no restraint and warranted God’s destruction. So the enemy can use organized leaders to disobey God and lead men astray or he can use liberty and lack of restraint to destroy a nation. Our nation is accustomed to law and order and it is more likely the enemies target, as we see with today’s swift changing of long-held laws.
Jealousy over God’s rule and sovereignty got the devil kicked out of heaven and down to earth where he seeks to take over God’s domain on earth. Even though Satan uses deceit, subtlety and subterfuge; we can detect his interaction through acts of hate, loss of liberty and the entrance of bondage. We see that kind of spirit every day and pretty much everywhere now as the time of the revealing of the antichrist approaches end times. It is front page headlines in our daily news. All the liberties that Adam and Eve had in the Garden have slowly come under the power of controlling spirits as liberties come at a high cost or are scaled back . The spirit of Christ gives liberty but the spirit of Satan seeks to steal those liberties and bring bondage and destruction. The more we know about Christ and His liberty, the greater our ability to recognize interruptions of that liberty. There are liberties that God gives and then there are some liberties that are just lawlessness.
The bible describes how the man of sin would deceive mankind and bring them under his authority and prepare them for worship of Satan. The man of sin is expected to bring order to disorder or use organized systems to get people to submit in agreement to his rule.
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 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, shewing himself that he is God. 2Th 2:3-4
People that are already accustomed to just following orders will be easily persuaded to just switch over to another leader who directs them to the antichrist system. Some people fearful of that scenario are already refusing to follow orders but let’s not enter that debate because of the amount of error and confusion. I would much rather tell you Christ’s way to escape.
Many people still have the opportunity to learn God’s way of obedience and accept Christ as Savior before becoming hopelessly deceived. The antichrist will use deception to lead people to follow his way through organizing some system of evil, but God’s spirit will guide His children with wisdom by the Holy Spirit. Before the rapture, believers will be led by the Spirit of God to escape antichrist systems. After the rapture of the saints, where the Holy Spirit will also be removed; people will have to figure out the best way they can how to avoid Satan’s control. Without the knowledge of God, people will follow wrong instructions to their demise. It will be pretty much useless to worry about whether or not to take the number or mark by that time because those that turn to God only need to call upon the name of Christ and prepare their heart to be with Him. Those that hate Christ will be lost. The system of the antichrist is working now and is being prepared for the last days, but today you can plan your way of escape by accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.
It is time for Americans to realize that if God is not in control then Satan will take control and he has had plenty of time to organize his players who are coming forth on the stage to play their role. There is no longer a mystery about what is going on because God brings peace, but Satan brings chaos and destruction. The only wonder is which one the majority of Americans will choose to serve. Christ always makes a way of escape for His children. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. “ (Ps. 34:19-KJV))
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Joh 3:16-19 (KJV)
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Joh 14:6 (KJV)
| *New book available at: Greed, Bondage, Corruption and Abuse : A Story of White Fear, American Turmoil and How to Overcome It (paperback) ISBN 9781300341673, Order a copy at local bookstore or go to: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/jrpaynebooks2go |
Truth and Life Ministries of Christ with Apostle Joyce Reba Payne 