ISSUE No. 12
The issue of Antichrist has been variously
defined by the theologians. The very word “Antichrist” as far as ordinary
people know and the theologians understand, means ‘a great antagonist of
Christ, expected to spread universal evil before the end of the world but
finally to be conquered at Christ’s second coming.’ However, I have refined and
defined Antichrist as: “Any person, spirit, statement, belief, or action that
does not confine to the teachings of Jesus Christ or the Holy Bible is an
incarnation of Antichrist—‘anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the
teachings of Christ does not have God.’” In shorter words, anything which is
against Christ is Antichrist.
The issue arises as Jesus Christ himself stated about the presence of Antichrist: “…see to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will mislead many…and many false prophets will rise, and will mislead many. And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will go cold… For false Christ and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance…” (Matthew 24:4-28). Thus, this statement shows that Antichrist is not something single; instead it is an incarnation of various persons, spirits, statements, beliefs, actions and teachings—it is a plural used as a singular i.e. the combination of all the above mentioned attributes comprises a singular Unit of Antichrist, which is Satan's Unit.
Antichrist is a pillar of Satan's Unit just like Christ is the Pillar of
God's Unit. Before going any further, let me clarify you about these two units.
The God's Unit is the Holy Trinity[1]
and the Satan's Unit is the Satanic Trinity[2].
Just like Father, Son and The Holy Spirit, it is the Devil, Beast and the False
Prophet. The Holy Trinity is revealed in Matthew 28:19: “Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit.” On the other hand, the Satanic Trinity
is revealed in Revelation 20:10: “And the devil who deceived them was
thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false
prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and
ever.” Now you may get a bit surprised
but just read the context of the mentioned reference, everything will be
cleared. Therefore, you must submit that both these units are facing rivalry
even before Day One.
However, Satan's Unit has gained strength as well as popularity. It is
opposing God's Unit by all impossible means and ways[3].
The concept of Antinomianism has helped its cause much—Antinomianism is a so-called
Christian doctrine believing that faith alone is necessary for salvation and
not moral law. The Holy Bible clearly states: “what use it is, my brethren, if
a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? … But
are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is
useless? ...For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith
without works is dead.” (James 2:14-26). But this unit has successfully removed
this concept from the minds of the present day Christians. It has changed the
life style as well as the mindset. Now you can see a female posing naked with
the Holy Cross around her neck; or you can witness shameful offenses in
churches. Numerous examples can be presented in this regard but you personally
understand this well.
Satan has always performed craftily. It cannot abuse or reject Jesus
Christ openly; rather it performs this gradually through its Antichrist
movement. It mixes belief with disbelief and trust with distrust in such a way
that no one knows the actuality hidden behind the matter. It opposes Jesus
Christ with many sneaky ideas and beliefs. Renowned religions accept Christ to
be descended from God, which suggests a good sense; therefore, Satan cannot
deny this universal truth, instead, it finds its means by accepting and
rejecting certain attributes of the personality of Jesus Christ at the same
time. So that it becomes quite difficult to differentiate between God's Unit
and Satan's Unit. Thus, the Antichrist becomes an Aphanite—not clearly visible
or distinguishable. John describes the presence of Antichrist unit: “Children,
it is the last hour; and just as you heard that Antichrist is coming, even now
many Antichrists have arisen.” (1 John 2:18).
Satan accepts and rejects Christ’s personality at the same time. It
starts a person to believe Jesus Christ with certain percentage of doubt and
then it inculcates its own ideology into human brain and that person starts
thinking about Christ in a newer sense which is not according to the Christian
faith. Then this person acts as a part in Antichrist unit. Today, there are
many missionaries and organizations working under Antichrist unit. They accept
Christ in one way but reject in the other. Now let us have more refined
discussion on this topic.
As I have told earlier about accepting Christ with a certain amount of doubt,
now I will give you some examples in brief. Consider a person believing Christ
99.99% and just having a doubt of 0.01%; do you think this is something compromise
able? No, you are right, Christ deserves a 100% and this 0.01% means the
beginning of Antichrist movement in his heart and soul; however, most of the
times he remains unaware of this fact. He accepts most of the attributes of
Jesus Christ but he rejects a few of them, in short he is not giving Christ
100%. Therefore, I am giving here some examples of this Antichrist movement
which is prevailing throughout the world and has gained immense membership,
though the members don’t know the fact that they have acquired the seal of
Antichrist. There are numerous organizations working today under Antichrist
movement. I am mentioning here just a few well-known ideologies:
The first conviction rejects Christ’s Godly attributes. It says that
Christ is a superior human being given the message of God, he has nothing to do
with the qualities of God nor he should be linked with these qualities. I will
not go in a detailed answer about this topic here, but just want you to read
this reference and then judge whether this claim is right or wrong: “For in him
(Christ) all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in him you have
been made complete, and he is the head over all rule and authority.”
(Colossians 2:9-10). Now what you say? Does their claim hold any more? Surely,
this is Antichrist movement.
The second philosophy regards Jesus Christ as Michael[4],
the Mighty Angel. Well, this again seems a ridiculous one as the Holy Bible
clearly states about Jesus Christ: “But to which of the angels has He ever
said, ‘sit at my right hand, until I make thine enemies a footstool for thy
feet’?” In my opinion, this reference is complete enough to be given in this
regard.
Another important ideology is about Christ’s death. They claim that
Christ was neither resurrected nor lifted towards heavens; instead, his corpse
remained in the grave and was stolen from there. That’s why they don’t
celebrate Easter. This is not a new claim we have read this in the Holy Bible
that the Jews had this in their minds and they spread this news. However, they
don’t have any proof from the Holy Bible regarding their misconception. Christ
himself stated about his death and resurrection but they just refer to illogical
claims, which is not a sensible way of judging. If it is so, then why does Paul
say: “and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith
also is vain …” (1 Corinthians 15:14).
There is another ridiculous belief stating that Christ’s thousand year
kingdom has been started since 1914, and these days are within his kingdom. It
means that about 97 years of Christ’s kingdom have been passed unknowingly and
in 2014, one hundred years will pass leaving 900 years still to come. But the
Holy Bible says that during these days the Satan will be arrested, can they
answer me one thing: is Satan bound today or is working at its full swing? The
second condition says that the faithful will rise from the dead, has any body
seen any arising out of the dead? I think it is not. Can they provide any information
in their favor? Well, they may say that the faithful will rise in near future
but how they will manage their thousand years as a hundred of them have already
passed, this is going to be ended in 2914, and we have no such news about the
resurrection of faithful yet. This is again a counterfeit idea proclaiming the
Antichrist movement.
The above mentioned beliefs[5]
are just a few of Antichrist movement. Christ wants from us a 100% faith and
not even a hint of disbelief. However, Satan works shrewdly and presents its
own ideologies through its human agents.
The Holy Bible has mentioned clearly about this Antichrist movement and
the persons comprising the Antichrist unit: “But false prophets also arose
among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will
introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them,
bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their
sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be maligned; and in their
greed they will exploit you with false words…” (2 Peter 2:1-22). Now link this
with Galatians 1:6-10: “… there are some who are disturbing you, and want to
distort the gospel of Christ. But even though we, or an angel from heaven,
should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you,
let him be accursed….” Also see 2 Corinthians 11:13-15: “For such men are false
apostles, deceitful workers, distinguishing themselves as apostles of Christ.
And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore
it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.”
Other then these, there are many passages in the Holy Bible that depict
the Antichrist movement. Indeed, the Holy Bible is a miracle; as God knew these
things will happen, therefore He has witnessed these and warned us beforehand
in the Holy Bible, so that no one can entice His true believers.
I can understand that in present world, life has become so busy that no
one even bothers to go to the church. He is even unaware of his church
membership. He just follows the ways as these false prophets lead him. But
before joining any church, you should ask about their faith statement. I am
hopeful that this will serve your purpose as most of these organizations don’t
reveal their faith statement this is because they have no faith in Jesus
Christ. Also as the Holy Bible says they show miracles; therefore you need not
to flow by just seeing the wonders they perform, you better see these in the
light of the Holy Bible. In modern world, the Antichrist movement is in its
full swing; the tongue movement and the forms of Pentecostal Church
The Holy Bible has warned us therefore, we should we remain careful and
cautious: “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard
lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall from your
own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:17-18). Jesus Christ himself states: “He who is not
with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew
12:30). I would conclude this with a thought provoking note: “Then watch out
that the light in you may not be darkness.” (Luke 11:35).
Now, the choice is yours. However, I am
hopeful that this explanation will serve your purpose and will surely force you
to think it otherwise—though the present discussion has been edited and limited
to much extent. I will provide a detail in a later edition. May God Bless you abundantly. (Amen).
Brother in Christ,
Jamshed Gill
Saturday 6
April, 2002.
[1] More detail is available from The
Inner Vision, Issue No. 02: Holy Trinity: The Most Controversial Issue.
[2] Please refer to The Inner
Vision, Issue No. 10: Who Is Satan?
[3] More detail is available from The
Inner Vision, Issue No. 03: The Claim of Salvation.
[4] For details see The Inner
Vision, Issue No. 05: Jesus: The Mighty Angel, Michael.
[5] A detailed study of all these misleading beliefs is available in Kingdom
or Rebeldom.
[6] Refer to The Inner Vision,
Issue No. 13: The Pentecostal
Church
