6 May 2024

Assessing the Antichrist Spirit

Radio talk show host Dan Bongino, as of late, has been declaring something to the effect: “There’s a spirit of some kind active in the world. I don’t know… Can’t say what it is… But it’s evil and has the world in turmoil…”

Bongino goes through all that’s going on daily, dealing mostly with politics but including deep dives into cultural issues and the insanity he sees happening. He attributes it to some spirit –a zeitgeist of this strange time– in which everything is upside-down – filled with evil.

He has claimed many times on air to know Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord, all the while a Catholic. And I don’t doubt he is a true believer. This is not to judge him in this matter but rather to point to the fact that he does seem to have at least some insight into what the evil might entail that he and others believe they observe and sense is going on in this world.

Bongino says consistently that many express to him they sense the same existent of an evil spiritual influence that is taking humanity down a destructive pathway. And this is what I would like to try to address in this commentary –thus the title Assessing the Antichrist spirit.

John, the apostle who was perhaps closest to Jesus in brotherly relationship while the Lord was in physical flesh on Earth, was inspired to write the following.

“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” (1 John 4:1-3).

That evil spirit that concerns Mr. Bongino and many of his friends and colleagues is made manifest by John’s Holy Spirit-inspired revelation. The spirit of Antichrist is as prevalent as in the apostle’s time of writing about it.

Bongino says that wickedness he senses is “spiritual.” I don’t believe he knows that it is of the same “spirit” or spirituality of which John forewarned, however. Like so many secularists, he sees it as some spirit of the age, a zeitgeist ideological force from the human intellect that bubbles up from time to time to come against human rationality and interaction.

The evil within humanity, I think he and others of the non-Holy-Spirit-influenced mind believe, is born out of those among us who want all others to come under their self-centered control. These seem to think it is out of some form of mental illness –a psychosis of some inexplicable description—that sets in motion the insanity that desires to inflict authoritarian madness.

They are not far from wrong about it being an illness. It is a spiritual illness, the same disease that its first infected carrier deliberately accepted in place of God’s Perfect Order. Lucifer’s 5 “I wills” of Isaiah chapter 14 have brought forth the iniquity infecting and affecting the human race since he looked admiringly at himself into that mirror of iniquity.

Here are a few news excerpts of proof that the Antichrist spirit wafts wickedly as ever among today’s inhabitants of Earth.

Haiti warlord ‘Barbecue’ orders gangs to ‘burn every house you find’ & storm presidential palace amid bloody coup fears. HAITI’S capital has been rocked by a fresh wave of violence as warlord Barbecue ordered his thug army to “burn every house you find.”…

Ben Bergquam Reports: Columbia Professors Come Out in Force to Support of Anti-Israel Protesters – Refuse to Condemn Hamas Killers…

Pro-Palestinian, Anti-Israel Protests Spread to Yale, UMichigan, NYU, and Across America. Several days of protests, assaults on Jewish students, and chaos at Columbia University in New York City have now spread to other American college campuses…

‘This Is 1938’: Dozens Arrested At Yale, Columbia Pauses In-person Classes Amid Rising Anti-Semitism…

PARENTAL WARNING: Popular Kids TV Show Introducing “Lesbian Moms.” If you’re a parent or grandparent, you probably know about the kids TV show “Bluey”… Since its debut in 2018, Bluey has become a critically acclaimed show, gaining popularity worldwide after its addition to Disney+ in 2019. So what do you do when you’re widely loved by parents and children alike? You use that fame to push the LGBTQ agenda, of course!…

WATCH: Houston Police Union Issues Warning That the Texas City is ‘Not Safe’ as ‘Many Suspected Murderers’ Are Walking the Streets. The Houston Police Officers’ Union has issued a warning that the Texas city is “not safe” and “many suspected murderers and capital murderers” are walking the streets on bonds.

The spirit of Antichrist is most observable at this moment through rising anti-Semitism. Satan’s hatred for the people God calls “chosen” is an Ephesians 6:12 globalist agenda thrust from every direction upon the horizon of Prophetic progression. The so-called intellectual institutions of America –the elite higher education institutions– are particularly a collective focal point in considering just how powerfully influential is that spirit that will ultimately eventuate in the worst tyrant of all human history inflicting death and destruction upon humanity of the Tribulation era.

Assessing the spirit of Antichrist at this moment leaves no other conclusion. The world is on the very edge of that man of sin, the son of perdition, the Antichrist himself being almost ready to step from the shadows of obscurity and onto the stage of man’s final years leading to Christ’s Second Coming.

You can avoid facing that hideous creature from the Abyss by doing the following –thus going to Jesus Christ when He calls believers to Himself in the Rapture.

“That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

–Terry

Scoffing: A Sign of the Last Days

The Bible tells us that a key sign of the last days will be the arrival of those who will mock our hope in Jesus’ appearing. The Apostle Peter wrote about these scoffers in 2 Peter 3:3-4:

“Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

Do we see this happening today? Very much so! In Dr. Ron Rhodes’ recent book, Bible Prophecy Under Siege, he described the current epidemic of mocking our blessed hope this way:

“Today, Bible prophecy is under siege. There are atheists, secular humanists, liberal Christian theologians, posttribulationists, midtribulationists, preterists, and many others who are launching vitriolic attacks, particularly against pretribulationism.”

In my experience, the most painful attacks have come from fellow believers who no longer believe in Jesus’ future reign over the nations and the Lord’s restoration of a kingdom for Israel. I hear from many fellow saints who tell me that they are no longer welcome in their churches because of their belief in the Rapture, which is also true for me.

They Target the Pre-Tribulation Rapture

More than any other belief, modern-day scoffers target our hope in the pre-Tribulation rapture. Most of them acknowledge the Second Coming in some way or another, but it’s our belief in Jesus’ imminent appearing that generates the fiercest mocking from fellow believers and those outside the faith.

Did the apostle have the Rapture in mind when he penned the words to 2 Peter 3:1-10? It seems likely that he did. In verse 4, the Greek word for “coming” is Parousia.” In 1 Thessalonians 4:15, the word refers to the Rapture as it does in 2 Thessalonians 2:1. However, in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 it refers to Jesus’ Second Coming. The context determines how we interpret parousia.

I believe the apostle is referring to the Rapture in 2 Peter 3:1-10 because the mocking includes a denial of the time of tribulation (2 Peter 3:4-7, 10). The scoffing of today precludes any direct intervention of the Lord to judge the wickedness of our day, such as we see in the book of Revelation, which they claim is either allegory, past history, or code that doesn’t apply to believers today. They push the Lord’s return to a far-distant return that carries no significance for today’s saints.

It’s Jesus’ return for His church that kicks off the “sudden destruction” of the Day of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:1-10). This is the target of those who mock our hope.

They Ignore Jesus’ Command to Watch

Because they deny the possibility of Jesus’ imminent appearing, they ignore Jesus’ command to “watch” for His return.

It’s curious that Peter urges us to “remember the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles” (2 Peter 3:3). The Lord gave many commands through the apostles, but here, Peter refers to one in particular that relates to His coming. Is this not the Lord’s instruction that fits best with the context of watchfulness and readiness (Matthew 24:42, 44; 25:13)?

The Didache, which means “teaching” in the Greek, is a brief document from the early church. Many scholars date it to the first century, as early as AD 70, although church leaders may not have compiled it into one document until around AD 300. The first sentence of the document states, “The Lord’s Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations.” Chapter 16 contains these instructions:

“Watch for your life’s sake. Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your loins unloosed; but be ready, for you know not the hour in which our Lord will come.”

The Didache demonstrates the importance that the early church placed on readiness for Jesus’ return.

They Misinterpret God’s Patience

The ridicule of our hope in Jesus’ soon appearing often stems from the fact that it’s been an extraordinarily long time since Jesus commanded us to watch for His coming. The implication is that we are foolish to expect the Rapture in our lifetime since it has been two thousand years since He promised to return.

In 2 Peter 3:8-9, the apostle anticipates such sniping as he writes:

 “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

Mockers fail to understand the Lord’s patience in waiting for people to repent before He sends the horrific judgments of the tribulation. Instead, they see it as an indication He is not returning at all for His church and push it to an end-of-the-world wrap-up of human history that doesn’t at all comply with what Scripture says about Jesus appearing or His return to Earth to set up His kingdom after a time of judgment upon the earth.

Please don’t fall for the scoffing of so many Christian leaders and pastors who deny biblical teaching regarding both the Rapture, Tribulation, and the restoration of Israel. Most speak eloquently as they deliver excellent sermons, but they never mention any aspect of our “blessed hope,” which the Apostle Paul summarizes In Philippians 3:20-21:

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”

Don’t fall for the scoffing of our day. Of this, you can be absolutely confident: Jesus is coming back, and it could happen at any moment!

-Jonathan

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