They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. 1 John 2:19 (KJV)
This is the second part of the series of hallmarks of the Antichrist in Scripture. We saw in the last article that the Antichrist and the spirit of the Antichrist will only operate in the end times after the true Christ has revealed Himself to humanity. And the operation of the Antichrist and the spirit of the Antichrist are Satan’s ultimate joker and tactic to receive human worship. This second part of the series will explore from the Scriptures the origin of the Antichrist and how he begins his operations.
John, the apostle, gives some profound insights in the above-mentioned Scripture. He remarks that “they went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us”. In this remark are coded the origin, the operations, and the spirit of the Antichrist.
The Antichrist and the spirit of the Antichrist begin in association with the Christian Church and God’s people and end up becoming traitors and rebels. In the same way, just like Lucifer, the beautiful arch angel who was high ranking in heaven and created by God for His glory and pleasure, rebelled against Him and chose to work against His plans and purposes, “the Antichrist, many Antichrists, and the spirit of the Antichrist” all through human history begin in association with the Christian Church and the teachings of Christ. But later veers off the way when the spirit of the Antichrist moves in.
To be sure, history has revealed many antichrists, men who presented themselves as messiahs or had a messiah complex in order to deceive the gullible but ended up plunging men and women into ruinous states. And astonishingly, all of them, without fail, began in association with the true God, the true Christ, and the Christian Church. The Jewish encyclopedia names more than forty false messiahs that have been revealed since the coming of Jesus Christ. The most prominent of those are “Moses of Crete, Simon Bar-Kokhba, and Sabbetai Zvi”.
For instance, Muhammed arose out of the context of Christianity, related to the teachings of Christ, and acknowledged him as a prophet. He even erroneously said that he was the comforter (Holy Spirit) Jesus said was coming, but veered off and started a movement that has today become a great menace to the Christian Church and Jewish nation in different parts of the earth.
Note: The Antichrist, many antichrists, and the spirit of the Antichrist hate the Jews and the Christians, and they always seek to destroy them. And wherever they operate, they have an unusual and unfathomable murderous rage!
Similarly, it was this same spirit that worked in Adolf Hitler, who was born into a Catholic family and baptised in water but ended up becoming a monster that was responsible for killing approximately 6 million Jews in what is today known as the “holocaust”. It is instructive to note that wherever the spirit of the Antichrist moves in, it gives men supernatural control over others. Even though there was nothing physical about Hitler that was remarkable, when the spirit moved in, it gave him supernatural powers to throw nations into turmoil.
In the same vein, between 1952 and 1960 in Kenya, a movement started that was specifically opposed to the British taking over Kenyan lands but soon morphed into an Antichrist movement. This movement was known as the “Mau Mau Rebellion,” a miniature Antichrist movement of sorts. Shockingly, almost all the leaders of the Mau Mau rebellion were born into Christian families and all went to missionary schools. But the movement still rose from “Christian missions” in Kenya.
They expunged the name of Jesus Christ from the Christian hymnals and replaced it with the name of “Jomo Kenyatta”, the Prime Minister at the time. In fact, Jomo Kenyatta remarked cynically that “the missionaries told us to close our eyes for prayers and stole our lands”. The Mau Mau rebellion hated Christians and Christianity and had a murderous rage towards Christians. They even enacted laws that were “anti-christian” in nature because of their hatred for Christians. The movement was responsible for approximately 11,000 deaths, the majority of whom were Christians. In summary, knowing all the claims of Christ and rejecting them are the very essence of the Antichrist.
And like most antichrists who promise to take their followers to the promised land but end up killing them, Joseph Stalin was also reputed to have killed approximately nine million people, including approximately 4 million Ukrainians, as the leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) between 1931 and 1934. This was also the case in China under Mao Zedong, the Chinese leader under whose reign approximately 30 million Chinese died through famine in what is today known as the “Chinese Great Leap Forward” between 1958 and 1962.
Shockingly, in Nigeria, Muslims now conduct white weddings, hold all-night meetings (vigils), anointing services, and programmes on Sunday mornings in mosques. Muslims now do praise and worship sessions in order to attract and bring multitudes of Christians to Islam. The man who is behind this is a man whose name was formerly Richard, a beloved brother and intercessor in a pentecostal church in Ibadan whose prayers worked wonders in the landscape. But he later backslided and recanted his Christian beliefs. He is now known as Abdul Rasheed, a staunch Muslim who works against all that is Christian.
Furthermore, the only other person who is referred to as “the son of perdition” in the Scripture apart from “Antichrist” is “Judas Iscariot”. He was a foremost apostle of Jesus Christ; he cast out our devils, healed the sick, and raised the dead, but ended up as a “traitor and murderer” who betrayed his master for 30 pieces of silver (2 Thessalonians 2:3; John 17:12; Matthew 26:15).
2 Thessalonians 2:3 (KJV)
…and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
John 17:12 (KJV)
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Matthew 26:15 (KJV)
and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
Therefore, if Judas Iscariot, a foremost apostle of Jesus Christ who walked in the supernatural, Brother Richard, who was mightily used of God in intercession, and many others who were mightily used of God could fall away, we are not exempted from Satan’s trickery and deception. We all need to cry out to God for mercy to stand firmly and securely in these dire times, lest we also fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).
1 Corinthians 10:12 (KJV)
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
May God count you and me worthy to escape the deception of Satan, keep us from falling, and count us worthy to enter into His glorious kingdom (Jude 1:24).
Jude 1:24 (KJV)
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
May the Lord release His grace and mercy!
Love.
