In the previous posting we find the Apostle John warning that (the) Antichrist would arrive (make his presence known and be accepted by the world) at some point in the future. John also warned that there were many antichrists on earth at that time (90 A.D.), and that they were in the church.

In 1 John 1:19 the apostle noted that there were many such antichrists, and that they had “gone out from among us.” From the context of the statement and by continuing to study his letter, we know that he was referring to a spiritual abandonment of “the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3). “The faith” refers to the true gospel of God that the prophets and apostles delivered to His people. Any perversion from that faith/gospel, if believed and obeyed, result would result in the acceptance of “another Jesus” (Gal. 1:6/ 2 Cor. 11:4). The antichrists, who had remained in the church, were telling the parishioners that what the apostles and pastors were preaching was not the Lord’s Truth. These men were anti-Truth and therefore anti-god, anti-Christ and anti-ministers of God. Many of the people believed the antichrists and became witnesses to the false gospel the antichrist ministers were teaching them. Both ministers and parishioners were operating under the power and direction of the Antichrist.

Ministerial antichrists, presenting themselves as “ministers of righteousness” were taking their orders from the Antichrist who presented himself as “the angel of light” (1 Cor. 11:13-15). Those who believed and obeyed their teachings were following the same “voice.” As was the case in the Garden of Eden, the message those false prophets delivered consisted of words the parishioners wanted to hear. During the time of the apostles, many of those in the church insisted on hearing only certain types of messages. This insistence on nothing but positive sermons had been going on since Eden. Noah, “a preacher of righteousness” faced the problem. The whole world turned against him and his God-directed messages which featured the “sword of the Spirit.” Recall that God killed them all. Later we find the Prophet Isaiah dealing with the same problem. In 30:9-11 God describes those who rejected God’s straight-forward message as “… a rebellious people, lying children … who will not hear the Law …., who say to the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us right things, speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Turn from the right way of God, turn aside from His path, stop telling us the Words of the Holy One of Israel.'” False prophets did exactly that. Many people followed them because they told them what they demanded to hear. God’s strict, My-way-or-the-highway way did not go over very well. Nothing has changed.

Generations later the Lord’s apostles were facing  the same situation. False prophets were leading God seekers away from Him by teaching another gospel, one that gave man the power to change the gospel. As had Adam and Eve, they sought to determine good and evil for themselves. Satan promised them that power if they would eat of the forbidden tree (disobey God). Nothing has changed.

Today those who claim to be God’s people follow in Adam and Eve’s spiritual footsteps by rejecting God’s strict, no alternative dictates and devising their own religious rules. God supposedly sees the superiority of their reasonings and agrees with them. The result of this apostasy is what is commonly called “the church.” L.J.