Hi there,
So what the anti-christ will do, he will do steadily. This is the approach to the end. The question is, if the anti-christ has a name, will he answer to it? I have stated elsewhere that the anti-christ rejects birth (and so can't be born again), but the Lord promised that He would draw all to Himself (gospels, from memory) - does that mean that the anti-christ will respond, when the Lord calls?
I guess this is more of an exercise in shifting expectation of the end, to the Lord, than anything I would want to say to the anti-christ. I don't need to think about it, the anti-christ will do what he is created to do - he is a tool in the Lord's toolbox, for bringing sin and unrighteousness to an end. The Devil will certainly use anything he (the anti-christ) says to his (the Devil's) advantage. I'm not sure we can protect the anti-christ from the Devil, actually. The anti-christ goes into perdition, so if he could be helped, he would ultimately need help all the time. I think it is more a question of, "how long is the anti-christ in power?"
The thing that I'm sure God would like to see, is the faith (of the Bride of Christ) taking this occasion to clean herself up, to set out her desire for those who are persecuted to receive a greater place in Heaven. The persecuted need resolve. In fact, as I write this Bashar Al Assad is fleeing Syria - a perfect example of a leader that has overstepped the mark (pun not intended) and been thrown out, as indeed the anti-christ will be overturned? That's really the point I think, the whole thing can be made a "blessing" or a "curse" - we should be praying that the whole thing turn out to be a blessing. People will believe that witnessing to Jesus has power, if the world sees that the faith is ready to surrender everything.
Now I'm not going to say we need to go out in the streets and challenge people to lay down their lives with us, I'm going to say we need to be witnessing to the Gospel that we can do, that our place in Heaven be established. The anti-christ is not going to keep blaspheming those in Heaven, if he sees that it is futile (that our witness is confident), this is a promise - we should lay hold of it. God will make of this something great, we should remember to turn to Him. I think I speak boldly that God is going to bless all of us, in the measure that our lives justify - praise His Holy Name!
It may be that we need the Holy Spirit, to speak before we are dragged into perdition (even if we don't take the mark).
I hope this has been of some encouragement.
God bless.
So what the anti-christ will do, he will do steadily. This is the approach to the end. The question is, if the anti-christ has a name, will he answer to it? I have stated elsewhere that the anti-christ rejects birth (and so can't be born again), but the Lord promised that He would draw all to Himself (gospels, from memory) - does that mean that the anti-christ will respond, when the Lord calls?
I guess this is more of an exercise in shifting expectation of the end, to the Lord, than anything I would want to say to the anti-christ. I don't need to think about it, the anti-christ will do what he is created to do - he is a tool in the Lord's toolbox, for bringing sin and unrighteousness to an end. The Devil will certainly use anything he (the anti-christ) says to his (the Devil's) advantage. I'm not sure we can protect the anti-christ from the Devil, actually. The anti-christ goes into perdition, so if he could be helped, he would ultimately need help all the time. I think it is more a question of, "how long is the anti-christ in power?"
The thing that I'm sure God would like to see, is the faith (of the Bride of Christ) taking this occasion to clean herself up, to set out her desire for those who are persecuted to receive a greater place in Heaven. The persecuted need resolve. In fact, as I write this Bashar Al Assad is fleeing Syria - a perfect example of a leader that has overstepped the mark (pun not intended) and been thrown out, as indeed the anti-christ will be overturned? That's really the point I think, the whole thing can be made a "blessing" or a "curse" - we should be praying that the whole thing turn out to be a blessing. People will believe that witnessing to Jesus has power, if the world sees that the faith is ready to surrender everything.
Now I'm not going to say we need to go out in the streets and challenge people to lay down their lives with us, I'm going to say we need to be witnessing to the Gospel that we can do, that our place in Heaven be established. The anti-christ is not going to keep blaspheming those in Heaven, if he sees that it is futile (that our witness is confident), this is a promise - we should lay hold of it. God will make of this something great, we should remember to turn to Him. I think I speak boldly that God is going to bless all of us, in the measure that our lives justify - praise His Holy Name!
It may be that we need the Holy Spirit, to speak before we are dragged into perdition (even if we don't take the mark).
I hope this has been of some encouragement.
God bless.
