In the 1970's, when I was born again, the church circles spoke of antichrist who was to come. And they spoke of this antichrist as being "one man" ... at that time, the churches I attended often said antichrist was Henry Kissinger, a USA government official.
(In 1812, the Russians thought the antichrist was Napoleon.)
But the Bible, itself, shows this to be wrong doctrine for the apostle Paul said antichrist would sit "in the temple of God" showing himself to be God ... putting himself above scripture and all that is called God.
II Thessalonians 2 ... Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Antichrist was coming through the churches.
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The key thing is this:
The churches would "fall away" from scripture... omitting scriptures that offend people and twisting scripture in ways to approve men and to remove the restraints against specific sins in the congregation.
When specific scripture is removed, antichrist, the man of lawlessness, can move into the churches.
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Although many scriptures have been removed since Paul's day, the easiest way to understand the opening of the door for antichrist to move into the churches is by looking at the removal of the following instruction spoken by Jesus HIMSELF.
Matthew 5:32 ... Jesus said ... But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
- The man who divorces "a faithful wife" will be the cause of her committing adultery upon remarriage.
- The woman will commit adultery after divorce if she remarries.
- The man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
As soon as Matthew 5:32 was explained away, lawlessness moved into the congregation.
This fulfills the following scripture:
II Thessalonians 2 (NASB) ... Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things?
And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed
When you remove scripture from the church, you remove JESUS, The Word.
I've heard people say it is now "watered down" ... not realizing that which they are witnessing in their church group is the fulfillment of II Thessalonians 2 ... antichrist working in the church group with the restraints (the scriptures) against antichrist removed from the church group.
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Another error: Antichrist is not one man any more than the devil is one man. Antichrist is a spirit of lawlessness in many men as they oppose God and the rules of God.
The apostle John explained this as follows:
I John 2:18 ... 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.
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We cannot stay in a church group where that group has removed any specific scripture.
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In 1979, God gave me the following terrifying dream:
A meeting was going on. A man was speaking to a room filled with people. I went in and began to listen.
A second man rushed in and said: "Stop ... Wait ... Can't you see ... It's too late ... It's already begun."
The first man resumed speaking.
I looked out the window to see what had "already begun."
There was a tall pole with a yellow civil defense speaker at top of the pole. A gas was coming out of the speaker. I knew it was poisonous and would kill the people. It was coming directly toward us!
The shocking thing was the speaker that was set there for the purpose of warning us was being used as the instrument which dispersed the gas that was poison and would kill us!
I looked at the man seated next to me. He had a big grin on his face and was looking directly at the man who was speaking to the group. But then I saw this man was a corpse, though he looked alive. He was already dead!
I looked about the room at the other people and realized they were all dead.
As I sat back in my chair and listened to the man speaking I began to feel sleepy and I knew as I sat there among them this was killing me too.
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God was showing me the anarchy that was already going on in our church groups