The Last Days and Faith

"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. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us... Who is a liar but he that denieth that JESUS is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also" (I Jn.2:18,19,22,23). "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 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" (I Jn. 4:1-3). "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that JESUS is the Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth" (I Jn. 5:3-6). "But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe" (Jn. 19:33-35). In these few verses alone we have a sample of the "strong delusion" that will overtake the entire world before long, and even now is working its way deeply into the fabric of this very society that we live in, mostly under the genre of "new age." We also see the chief belief that must be upheld in order to avoid being taken by this end time madness. To most who profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ it may sound too simplistically erroneous to fall for, but its slow and steady immersion of the mentality of the entire world will prove far too crafty for everyone except for the elect of God (Mat. 24:24). It is very simple: If you allow for a separation between the man Jesus, and the Christ or Son of God, you are primed to be taken in by this "antichrist" delusion. John said it very simply; If you deny that the man Jesus was and is the only Christ, period, you are lying against the Son of God. This is why John was so adamant in teaching continually that "Jesus [the man] IS the Son of God" and the Christ, and that he came here, died, rose, [and left] with a fleshly body like ours (Acts 1:9-11). That is why John noted that blood and water both came from Jesus' side when it was pierced by a spear at the cross.

The early apostasy known as 'Gnosticism,' about which John in particular, [because he was around longer] warred against much, had at its core that Jesus was and is a 'spirit being' without a material body. Gnosticism is a philosophical religion that bases its supposed wisdom on symbolism and knowing secret mysteries. It also upheld and does still today that Jesus did NOT raise from the dead bodily, but rather that he rose as a spirit without an actual body. Jesus after his resurrection said and showed otherwise however: "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Lk. 24:39). And again, "Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing" (Jn. 20:27). To deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus is to say that he is dead, for the Bible tells us that "the body without the spirit is dead" (Jas. 2:26). And if Jesus were dead, that would present us with a very serious malady indeed, as the apostle Paul clearly stated: "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins" (I Cor. 15:17). In fact gnostics taught and teach that the human body itself is evil, and in fact that all matter is evil as well. That error gives place to another gnostic principle that claims that man does not really have sin, but rather that every immoral practice is acceptable and good in terms of morality because it is only our body that is imperfect (Jude 1:4,12,19). That is NOT what Jesus said though, as the scripture confirms to us: "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man" (Mk. 7:21-23). The gnostic doctrine also upholds that there are many 'Christs,' and that false ideology will give place to the final gnostic 'Christ,' known in the Bible as "the Beast," and the "son of perdition" (Rev. 13:3; Rev. 2:3). So the only way to escape the end time deception and the consequences of it, is simply to "purify [one's self] even as he is pure" (I Jn. 3:3). And if that is not the chief priority of all those who believe on Jesus, then there will be no escaping the sobering and fearful words forecast by the apostle Paul: "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" II Thess. 2:10-12). In conclusion I must say that the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the foremost principle of the faith simply because there is no remission of sins anywhere other than through the heavenly high priest and mediator of the new covenant, "the man Christ Jesus" (Heb. 8:1,2; Heb. 12:24; I Tim. 2:5). Amen.