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The Spirit Of Antichrist-instead of Christ, God, Holy Spirit

        Most of the people who meet in a building (other than a home) usually referred to as a “church,” i.e., an “institutional church” have a special class of leaders who are recognized by their titles, dress code, or name tags/badges and follow a set pattern of activity, usually called a “service.” These people pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the building and the salaries of their special class of leaders, by what is usually called a “tithe” and/or “offerings.” They are, or will become, the apostate believers and apostate “church” spoken of in scripture. Apostasy means a falling away from the faith, not a departure from the “church.”
        For those of you who instantly felt a murderous rage, disdain, hostility, antagonism, and uttered an instant denunciation of me for having stated what you just read, these are all your very own personal internal testimonies to the truth of what I just said. Those feelings of basic hatred that swept over you are also testimony that you will be among those who, according to scripture, will kill people like me thinking that they are fulfilling God’s will.
        However, there is an overcoming remnant bride of Jesus Christ, who will recognize the scriptural validity of what I said.
        Scripture is clear that the purpose of the saints meeting together is to be a local component of the living organism known as the universal body of Jesus Christ. We are to focus on Jesus as a true disciple, learning of Him, following Him, supporting Him and imitating Him as much as we humanly can. We are to recognize the scriptural elders among us, who are to oversee the meetings and to shepherd the saints according to scriptural commands. Each saint is to be a living stone who contributes to the spiritual life of the local body and who expresses their spiritual gifts according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. True biblical fellowship, which includes sharing, socializing and supporting those in need will see that the fatherless, the widows, the strangers in the land, and the poor are taken care of by money and other resources from these local assemblies.
        From these biblical assemblies of the saints of God, unity will come from knowledge and practice of the truth of God’s word, and they will become bound together in true agape love, which will reproduce disciples in the image and likeness of Jesus Christ, Who indwells them. The fruit of their scripturally functioning as a local expression of the body of Christ will contribute to the achievement of God’s eternal purpose of bringing all things together in one, in Christ. If you have a problem with that read “God by the Spirit of Jesus Christ will build an assembly.” You may want to read “God’s Will And Purpose” also.
        These are all Christ-centered activities, both spiritually and physically. Such meetings are “for” Christ, in fact, pro-active for and in Christ.
        Those who claim to be Christ, and who come in His name, the “false Christ’s,” are obviously, instantly identified and should not be capable of fooling anyone with a functioning intelligence.
        Because the purpose and focus of the “institutional church” in the circumstances mentioned in my opening paragraph meet the criteria of either being “against Christ” or “instead of Christ” they may appropriately be called “antichrists.” And yes, I know that gnosticism is involved. What do you think is being taught today in these institutions?
        Matthew 12:30: He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
        Luke 11:23: He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.
        The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary comments on this verse: “The absence of positive attachment to Christ involves hostility to Him.”
        Mark 9:40: For he that is not against us is on our part.
        Luke 9:50: And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.
        There are some who teach that the “antichrist” is identified in Matthew 24:5,24, Mark 13:6,22 and Luke 21:8. In these verses Jesus is speaking of those who will come in His name and those He calls “false Christs.”
        Vine’s Expository Dictionary says about the antichrist: “antichristos can mean either “against Christ” or “instead of Christ,” or perhaps, combining the two, “one who, assuming the guise of Christ, opposes Christ” (Westcott). The word is found only in John’s epistles, (a) of the many “antichrists” who are forerunners of the “Antichrist” himself, (1 John 2:18, 22; 2 John 7); (b) of the evil power which already operates anticipatively of the “Antichrist,” (1 John 4:3).
        “What the apostle says of him so closely resembles what he says of the first beast in (Rev. 13), and what the apostle Paul says of the Man of Sin in (2 Thes. 2), that the same person seems to be in view in all these passages, rather than the second beast in (Rev. 13), the false prophet; for the latter supports the former in all his Antichristian assumptions.
        “Note: The term pseudochristos, “a false Christ,” is to be distinguished from the above; it is found in (Matt. 24:24) and (Mark 13:22). The false Christ does not deny the existence of Christ, he trades upon the expectation of His appearance, affirming that he is the Christ. The Antichrist denies the existence of the true God (Trench, Syn. Sec. xxx).”
        In 2 Thessalonians 2:3 the “man of sin” is also called the “son of perdition.”
        In Revelation 17:8,11 the beast is referred to as going “into perdition.”
        The antichrist, who is the “man of sin,” and the “son of perdition” appears to be the leader or ruler of the symbolic beast system of Revelation 13. The false Christs—those who come in Jesus’ name—are not the antichrist who is introduced into the biblical account in Revelation 13. As Vine’s Expository Dictionary stated, there are many “antichrists” who are forerunners of the “Antichrist” himself.
        If you don’t want to be part of the antichrist system, under the control and power of the “beast,” then you have no choice: You must get out of the “institutional church” system. “The absence of positive attachment to Christ involves hostility to Him.”
        And you must begin to meet in each other’s homes. This will require the patience of Job, and the wisdom that comes from the mind of Christ Himself. When you meet under the headship of Jesus Christ, and to learn of Him, and to experience being the body of Christ while you are together, then you will become a powerful instrument forged and shaped and molded in the hand of God. Acknowledging the headship of the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ, we will experience Christ, and how to be the body of Christ. We must assemble together to focus upon one another and to minister to one another in true biblical fellowship (Greek, koinonia) which includes sharing, socializing and supporting. You must exclude all other priorities in your meeting together.
        Each one of you has a ministry. However, that is not the purpose of your meeting together. “One another” is the reason for your meeting together in homes under the true Shepherd Jesus Christ which manifests through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit of God. Each one of you has a work to do for God. However, that is not the purpose of your meeting together in homes. You can share your experiences of your ministry and your work for God at those meetings, but your experiences are not the purpose of meeting together in homes.
        “One another” is the focus of your meeting together to minister in true fellowship of sharing, socializing and supporting those in need until their efforts at self-support become a reality for them.
        When such a spiritual atmosphere becomes tangible among a group of believers individual and corporate praise of God is spontaneous and improvisational. It cannot be contained and will burst forth and be a powerful blessing for all those involved who are spiritually attuned to the presence of the Holy Spirit.
        As long as you continue to meet in a building you call “church” you are functioning in the spirit of antichrist. As long as you continue to create a special class of people to rule over you you are excluding the headship of Jesus Christ through the Person of the Holy Spirit of God. As long as you continue to pay money to perpetuate that system you are failing to provide for the fatherless, the widows, the strangers in the land and the poor.
        You’ll have to learn to deal with the quirky and weird personalities. The assertive personalities will have to shut up and let the quiet ones participate. The quiet ones will have to learn to speak up and share with the rest some of the wonderful things that you have to share. Still water runs deep.
        Your children will be part of the local ekklesia. Yes you will have to include them also. Not just shut them away in another room and turn on the TV.
        You will have to learn to adjust to recognizing Jesus as the head of the ekklesia, through His Holy Spirit.
        You’ll have to learn to behave and respond differently to the presence of the Holy Spirit. No more recognizing an “anointing” upon some alleged leader because you are all the same in recognizing Jesus as the only Shepherd [for the religious read: pastor] of the local ekklesia. No more chanting repetitious choruses of songs to induce an altered state of consciousness because there is no such thing as a “worship leader.” No more recognizing the super spirituality of somebody else by falling down when they touch you, or breathe on you or get near you. You all, each and every one of you, has the Father, Son and Holy Spirit resident within you. You will discover that one person isn’t “fuller” with the Presence of God, than you or anyone else, which “fullness” overpowers the “less fullness” of God’s Presence in you. Think about that one, folks. Do you really think that you are so “empty” of God’s presence, and somebody else is so “full” of God’s presence that you will fall down when they get around you, or touch you, or breathe on you? If this was true, then every time a Spirit filled believer walked anywhere in public all of the unsaved around them would be spontaneously falling down. If, perhaps, you walk down the aisle in a crowded mall and people start falling down, I suggest you check your deodorant. Breath mints may help also. Jesus Himself, God in the flesh, walked this earth, and the people near Him did not fall down slain in the spirit. The reaction that Jesus got from His physical presence came from (1) a supernatural source, the demons and (2) a natural source, the hypocrites of His day. So if you are a demon or a hypocrite then you may fall down. Please! Note that Jesus also exercised power over death, disease, and nature itself in addition to demons. So if you are raising the dead, healing every disease known to mankind and are affecting the weather by the presence of God within you (not to mention walking on water), then you may be a candidate for affecting demons and hypocrites—but not necessarily causing them to fall down. However, be aware that those to whom you minister in love will eventually depart from you and kill you. Except for a very small minority. All of this “falling down” stuff is conditioning from being placed into an altered state of consciousness from music, rhythmic beats and lighting effects, or from a fleshly desire to be seen as “spiritual” or from demonic spirits. Read up on kundalini yoga for more information on that. All that falling down stuff started only several hundred years ago when the shaky, the quaky and the flakey came upon the scene and infected the true revivals that God has started because of the prayers of the saints. So don’t send me your favorite list of isolated Bible verses that show how scriptural it is. Instead, research them and let scripture talk to you instead of trying to get scripture to say what you want it to. Been there, done that, got the prize. But saw the truth despite my attempts to bend it to suit my own purposes.
        You’ll learn to stop playing “church” and to be a living stone in the true temple of God. It will require a change of lifestyle. A lifestyle that includes God in every aspect of your living and being. Sure, you want to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Now you can complete Jesus’s summary of the law and also learn to love your neighbor as yourself. Like, I said, a change of lifestyle. Are you up to the challenge of doing things God’s way from now on, or do you want to whine about being inconvenienced by having to be what you’ve talked about and heard about? Do you want to continue to invent stuff to “do” that makes you think you’re doing God and the rest of us a favor? That’s called “busy work.” How about, instead, just trying to “be” what God says you’re supposed to be? When you do that, then you will hear clearly from God what you are to do for Him.
        You’ll have to deal with real people, like yourselves, right where you live. No more play acting for a few hours a week trying to make yourself look good. And others will have you to deal with too. So it’s even. You believe the Bible? Then do what it says, instead of what you want to do.
        Don’t send me emails, folks. Instead, read your Bible, check your concordances, Hebrew and Greek dictionaries, and commentaries from at least 200 years ago. Find out what the Bible really says and what it really means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
        It’s your decision. Do you want to be “for” Christ, or do you want to be “against” Christ? You don’t have a long time to decide. You must decide now, whether you choose life or whether you choose death.

        If you’re dissatisfied with today’s “church” scene, then invest your time in reading some other related articles:
•“A Sinking Submarine,” explains why today’s concept and practice of Christianity fails to measure up to scriptural standards.
•“Women Keep Silence, or Don’t Lose Your Head, Please!,” discusses biblical types and antitypes, examples and clear scriptural instructions for scriptural spiritual headship, why Paul the apostle insisted upon it, and the dangers of irresponsibility by the men of the ekklelsia.
•“Does Anybody Out There Hear Me?” states the case for the urgent need for biblical home ekklesias in God’s economy as compared with today’s standardized religious institutional mindset.
•“Americans religious faith in self and church, not Christ.” Americans religious faith is in self and church, not Christ, the Bible or God as biblically illiterate people obey flesh strongholds not the Holy Spirit.
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