How Can the Spirit of Antichrist Deceive Religious People?

How Can the Spirit of Antichrist Deceive Religious People?

He can deceive them because they do not love the truth. They cannot be saved without loving the truth. “How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?” John 5:44.

Paul exhorted the church to have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, and then he went on to explain what this mind is. Jesus’ mind was to renounce His glory with God. Then He took upon Himself the form of a servant and continued to deny Himself until He died on the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name. Phil. 2:5-11, 12-22.

After Paul had finished explaining the mind of Christ, he exhorted them to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. Further on he said that all those who were with him sought their own. He could only send Timothy to them because he sincerely cared for their state. Timothy did not seek his own.

The Antichrist exalts himself by pretending to be God. If he tried to deny that Jesus was the Son of God or that Jesus was raised from the dead, all the religious people would understand that he was the Antichrist. However, he explains away Jesus’ humiliation—the fact that He had a flesh like we have and was tempted like we are tempted. “No,” they say, “Jesus was not that low; He was far too holy to be tempted like we are tempted.” This is how the Antichrist explains away the gospel. Heb. 4:14-16.

The Antichrist says further that Moses came with the law, but Jesus came with grace, that Jesus’ salvation is so great that God sees us through Jesus as being perfect. This satisfies those religious people who do not love the truth. They want to have grace without the truth. John 1:17. This is the broad way that leads to perdition, and there are many who walk on it. Read Matthew. 7:13 and the epistle of Jude. Thus the Antichrist has explained away Jesus as our forerunner and that we can follow in His steps who committed no sin. 1 Pet. 2:21-22.

John writes that we are to test the spirits. We can test them on this basis: whether they confess that Jesus came in the flesh or not. 1 John 4:1-3; 2 John 7-8. We must be on guard against the spirit that explains away Jesus’ humiliation; otherwise we also will not be saved from our pride.

The apostles disputed among themselves as to which of them should be considered the greatest. Consequently, Jesus explained to them the mind He had—the mind of being a servant to all. Luke 22:24-27; Matt. 20:24-28. Why is there so much division among so-called believers? It is because they do not live in the mind and spirit of Jesus, but rather follow the spirit of the Antichrist.

He who first descended to the lower parts of the earth gave servants to the church, so that the saints might be fully equipped for the work of ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ. If we build the body of Christ, this body cannot be divided. Eph. 4:9-13; 1 Cor. 1:13.