26.2 Anti-Christ
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
The nonsensical definitions given to John’s coined term, “anti-Christ,” are on a par with the “Christ” looked for by the Jews, a “Christ” that did not and never will come. There is NO SUCH THING as “the Antichrist.”
Anti-Christ is a spirit that operates primarily inside the present church of Christ, and as such, anti-Christ is utterly familiar and common to each one of us. That’s what gives this spirit such power – been there, done that.
The spirit that is anti-Christ is NOT the beast of Revelation 13, neither is it the “man of sin” in 2 Thessalonians, although those things are certainly opposed to Christ as well. The spirit of anti-Christ focuses on separating Jesus from us.
What God Says
To know the Manchild, however, we must also understand this spirit that opposes Christ. The clarity of understanding that God has given me as I write this course is culminated, in part, by a clearer understanding of anti-Christ that has come to me over the last few days. I ask God to grace me with the ability to impart that same understanding to you. First, let’s put in front of us the ONLY things God actually says about this spirit.
Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that anti-Christ is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen… They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us…
The Spirit of Anti-Christ
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is anti-Christ who denies the Father and the Son (1 John 2:18-22).
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God… Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of anti-Christ, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world (1 John 4:1-3).
Defining that Spirit
The word “the” inserted before anti-Christ in some Bible translations is not in the Greek. Neither is there any reason to see this spirit as substance in itself, or the name of some individual; it is nothing more than what is contrary to Christ. The first words of anti-Christ are “Did God indeed say.”
At the same time, the practice of looking at brethren who have left one’s fellowship for whatever reason and saying, “Well, they proved they’re not with God, because they left us,” is, itself, the spirit that opposes Christ. Thus, even though John refers to Christians as anti-Christ, I will not see that as judgment against any individual person. Judge nothing before the time. (We will always get it wrong.)
The Real Anti-Christ
Let’s look, however, at two specific things by which John defines this spirit that opposes Christ. I have quoted a lot, yet I see that full understanding comes from the even larger context of John’s entire letter.
The spirit that is anti-Christ denies that Jesus is the Christ. And the spirit that is anti-Christ denies that Jesus is revealed in human flesh. I want to explore the extent of these two concepts inside the meaning of human consciousness, word and spirit always together. The constant goal of this spirit is to drive every wedge possible between Jesus and us.
God Manifest in the Flesh
The real target of the spirit of anti-Christ is the reality of God manifest in the flesh. As we saw in Symmorphy I: Purpose, Jesus was convicted and executed for the crime of God showing up on this earth in human flesh. And we saw that God is planning to do that dastardly deed again.
And so, as John indicated, this spirit works in two directions at the same time, seeking to drive Jesus far away from us on the one hand and to drive us, and our bodies of flesh far away from Jesus on the other hand – in the imagination of the mind. The success of the spirit of anti-Christ in the church today is astonishing and (almost) complete.
A Demonic Spell
I was pondering my earlier statement that, when I read Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine, a demonic spell came upon me.
Now, I know that Norman Grubb taught that demons have nothing to do with a present Christian. But I also know that the New Testament as well as my own continual experience disagrees, thus I must teach what is true. Yet I call nothing “in” me anything but Christ. Such spirits do not stick around in such an atmosphere of confidence in Jesus.
We have established that human consciousness is a story of words made real by spirit. The words are the fabric; the spirit makes those words alive.
Trigger Words
Here is what happened to me. Because Augustine’s words were already an utterly familiar story in my own mind, a story coming out of my Mennonite and Baptist, Assembly of God and move of God experiences through life, those words were already a part of my former consciousness. Thus, when I read them again in a text written over 1600 years ago, astonished at how familiar they were to me, somewhere in that was a trigger, like the trigger used in hypnosis or mind control, that switched me from my present mind into that former mind.
And there, in that former mind, I could neither see nor know Jesus.
I Live ONLY in Jesus
Yes, that former mind was anointed by the spirit of anti-Christ. That did not bother me at all, because I live only in Jesus, regardless of any outward anything. So I just waited quietly until it passed and I could know Jesus my life again.
Then, recently, I posted a bit on Facebook about Jesus, the Man, living in my heart, and my knowing this human Jesus. Someone posted a familiar verse in the comments for the purpose of “correcting” me. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer (2 Corinthians 5:16).
I Need Jesus
My only concern is how other people will read and interpret what is posted and my responses, that is, my concern is that they hear and see Christ alive in themselves by my words.
You see, that verse is so familiar to me because I have heard it used for years as a means of separating between Jesus and Christ. Jesus is one thing; Christ is another. Thus it is used to say that we are Christ with no need for a personal and human Jesus to be part of us. Sadly, this teaching is so prominent among many who teach very similar things to what I teach, yet it is one of the reasons I left the move of God fellowship. I need Jesus; I’m no good at being a “Christed” one on my own.
Using Bible Verses
I began to understand that the spirit behind the use of that verse in the comment section was the spirit of anti-Christ, and I could see that no response of mine could impart life. For that reason, I simply deleted the comment.
Here is what I am driving at. It is Bible verses, Scriptures, things God has said, that the serpent uses to drive his wedges between Jesus and us in our minds, just as he did when tempting Jesus as well as Adam and Eve. You see, this separating between the personal, human Jesus and “Christ” – that’s what makes this effort, according to John, to be anti-Christ.
Separation
And they use Bible verses, even verses at the core of the covenant, to do that.
Then, conversely, in comes a line such as, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. You know you’re heart is not right before God. You know you’re doing this for fleshy reasons.” And the words of our mind, words we have repeated as our own story over and over, kick in and instantly, we are under a demonic spell of Jesus far away from us.
And so this same spirit of anti-Christ has succeeded in driving our flesh far away from Jesus. Separation in both directions, all the time, in every way.
Dealing with Anti-Christ
Now, I want to share this. The attacks of the spirit of anti-Christ against me, and against you as well, always follow one or the other of these two directions. Either this spirit seeks to drive Jesus away from us with condemnation. In such an attack, I simply keep my eyes on Jesus and tell myself that Jesus IS the only life I am.
But the spirit of anti-Christ also seeks to get us to look at our flesh and to see our flesh as something that separates us from Jesus. This attack is always regarding self-righteousness. You should perform better. In such an attack, I simply relax into Jesus. “Oh my Jesus, You alone are my Savior, I rest utterly inside of You. My flesh is entirely Yours.”
My Story
You see, if that person had inserted that verse under my post about my knowing the human Jesus alive in me even six years ago, even a few years after I had started speaking Christ my only life, it would have sent me into a tail-spin for a few days. Now? Now it has no effect at all. Why? Because my story of Christ my life, the words of my human consciousness, is becoming full and complete. Because I know Jesus Sent into me and through Him, I know Father.
Yet something happens with some who read my letters. They turn and read some other Christian stuff and then they write back to me no longer knowing Jesus as their only life. They write back to me from another mind.
A Different Mind
The spirit of anti-Christ, using “Christian” and Bible words so familiar to them, spun them back into a mind that knows all kinds of things about God, but cannot see Jesus in their hearts or on the pages of the Bible. And, of course, you can see how all the “Jesus up in heaven,” “Jesus coming back someday,” and so on are simply words anointed by that spirit that drives Jesus and us far apart; they are a consciousness by which too many of our brethren live.
You see, the person who used that verse on no longer regarding Jesus according to the flesh, was using that line specifically to regard Jesus according to this separated mind. Any spirit using any “word,” even the word, “Christ,” to get our eyes off of Jesus in us our only life, is the spirit of anti-Christ.
Wider Application
Now, there are many individuals, institutions, and elements of our world that are a wider application of this spirit of anti-Christ. John was partly speaking directly of those natural Jews who deny that Jesus is the Christ. More than that the whole world most definitely moves in that spirit that opposes Christ.
The important truth for us, however, is to understand the reality of the spirit behind all those things. That all of it is nothing more than an attempt to drive Jesus far from us and us far from Jesus. And that is absolutely anti-Christ.
The Manchild
The “manchild” is the fullness of KNOWING Jesus Sent and through Him, KNOWING Father; that is, the full consciousness of Christ, even while we walk in dying bodies.
This Christ child, Jesus living as us, breaks completely that spirit of anti-Christ. It is only when our brethren SEE that which is holy and pure, true and kind, tender and real will this hypnosis of darkness, this spell of anti-Christ, be broken inside their own consciousness.
And in SEEING a Man on His knees to serve, laying down His life for them – through us, through people just like themselves, they will know the door is wide open into God.