Marsha's Musings: Antichrist

1John 2:18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.



1John 2:22-23 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.
Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.


There are those who cleverly will tell you that Jesus is the son of God, but they will deny that Jesus is God in the flesh.  They might say he is a god, one of many but not THE one true God.  They will say he was conceived by conventional methods by one they call a Heavenly Father, which effectively removes the miraculous nature of the virgin birth, and makes Mary out to be immoral for messing around with another man.

There are as many variations of this as there are religious groups out there, but only those who stick to the Bible as it is written get it right.  John 1 clearly states that Jesus, the Word was God.

The false teaching is very cleverly worded and very deceptive on the surface until you take what they say to its logical conclusion.  But when you get down to it, they are denying the Son and they don't have the Father.  They are antichrist.  Beware.

Hidden Treasures: Making Gods

Today I read Exodus 32 where Moses is up on the mountain with God and the people demand of Aaron that he make them a god since they don't know what has become of Moses.  Aaron pleases the people by making the golden calf and then had the audacity to tell Moses later that he just threw the gold in the fire and out came this calf. How absurd is that?

The take home lesson for me in this, is the fact that we are a people of weakness and passions.  We are easily swayed by error. We need to be on guard that we don't make gods of our imaginations to worship instead of worshipping the one True God.  It's so easy to allow things, people or agendas to take the place of God in our lives.  But the most dangerous thing is to mold God into what we want Him to be in our imagination instead of letting God be God as he is revealed in Scripture.

I know many who insist that God is a God of love but don't want to hear or accept that God also is a God of justice and wrath.  The God that they manufacture would never allow anyone to end up in Hell (which means, by the way, that heaven will be full of unrepentant sinners....won't be much different than what we live with now if that be the case.)

Let's be careful that we take our ideas about God to the bar of Scripture and see if they are right.  This means looking at Scripture as a whole and not just cherry picking the verses that support our view.

Hidden Treasures: Test Those Who Claim to Speak for God

1John 4:1  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.


When someone comes to you claiming to speak for God or claiming that there are those of his or her church who speaks for God or is a prophet, then it's time to go to the Bible and test what they say against what the Bible has to say.  If the two are not in agreement then something is wrong. They are false.

Here is one test of whether a prophet is false or true:

1John 4:2-3 By this you know the Spirit 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 the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

There are many who claim what is written in this verse, but this isn't the whole test of whether a prophet is true or false.  Take a look at this verse:

 Deuteronomy 13:1-5 "If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,"and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods' -which you have not known-'and let us serve them,' "you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. "You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. "But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.

So, this was directed to the Children of Israel in Old Testament times.  In those days there was no tolerance for those who taught heresy.  They were commanded to put them to death.  In the New Testament, Jesus said to let the tares grow up with the wheat and in the end they would be gathered and burned. So this part of these verses are not applicable for us today, but the test of the prophet is still applicable.

Check out the one who is hailed a prophet. Check out what he has said and compare it to the Bible's teaching.  Is it in agreement?  Has the prophet prophesied future events?  Has every event come to pass as prophesied?  This means you must dig a little bit and do some study.  Don't just take someone else's word for it.  Find out for yourself if what the prophet has said has always come to pass or is in agreement with the Bible.  If not, then you can be assured that prophet is a false prophet and you don't need to follow him/her.  They will just lead you astray.

The same goes for some so-called Christian teachers that are out there on TV, authoring books and teaching in churches.  Check then out. Compare their teaching with the whole of Scripture (the Bible). Don't just take the verses they cherry pick to support their teaching and assume they are alright.  Read the context and study the teaching out as it compares the the teaching of the Bible as a whole.  Is it consistent with the Bible?  If not, then don't give them any heed.  If you are in a church where they are teaching, then run as fast as you can away from there and find a church that teaches what the Bible teaches and not just what a few verses that they have cherry picked to support their positions.

Hidden Treasures: The Anointing from the Holy One

1 1John 2:20  But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
 21 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.


1 John 2:27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.


I find it interesting that there are those who have told me that only those who are given authority from God through the laying on of hands are able to understand and say what the Scriptures mean.  They point at all the different interpretations of the Bible that are out there and claim there are so many differing ideas on it because none of them have been given authority to  know what it means.

However, these scriptures soundly refute this.  Each person that God has chosen to save and adopt as His child is given an anointing from the Holy One that helps us discern between truth and error as we go to the Scriptures (Bible) and compare what we are being told with what the Bible actually teaches.

Hidden Treasures: How Will We Be Like God When We See Him?

1John 3:2-4 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.


This verse is not saying that we are going to be gods.  Scripture tells us plainly that there is only one God.

Mark 12:29 Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.
Mark 12:32 So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.

I think the context of the passage points to the fact that when we reach heaven and are in God's presence we will be sinless as He is sinless.  We are being encouraged here to purify ourselves and to not practice sinning.  We are to mortify sin in our earthly bodies in preparation to be with God and to glorify God while we are on earth.

Hidden Treasures: The Love of the World vs The Love of the Father

1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.
And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.


Basically, everything that man counts as important...his physical desires, the things he wants and being seen as great in the eyes of others is all passing away.  It is meaningless in the whole scheme of things.  Only doing the will of God matters.

Hidden Treasures: The Christian's Bar of Soap

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Hidden Treasure: Walking in the Light

1 John 1:5-7  This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.


What does it mean to walk in the light?  It means following Jesus.

 John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

This doesn't mean just following His example, but it means identifying yourself with Him.  In Bible times and in many places today, to identify yourself with Christ,~ to really FOLLOW him, not just his example, means you lose your family, friends and your job.  For some today, it is the same.  There are church groups today in America where if a person leaves the group to follow the true Jesus of the Bible, they are shunned by their families and friends and some even lose their jobs as a result.

In many countries of the world today there are people who are Christians~followers of the Jesus of the Bible~who have been persecuted, beaten, jailed and some have been killed for the name of Jesus.

Following Jesus, walking in the light, means being willing to follow Him even to physical death if that is where it leads.  Are you walking in the light?  Are you following Jesus?  Are you ready to die for His sake if that is what it requires?  Hard questions.  I pray that if it comes to that for me that I would not deny Him.

Hidden Treasures: Global Warming Predicted in the Bible~Are You Ready??

2 Peter 3:7-10 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Hidden Treasures:False Prophets & Apostasy

2 Peter 2:1-2But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.


Here is another favorite verse of those who would lead people astray.  They point to verses like this in the Bible to try to prove the point that there was a total apostasy of the Christian church which made it necessary for a new restored church to put on the earth.  They claim their church is the only true restored church upon the earth. There are various groups like this all over the place.  Each just has little different twist to their story.

But let's take a look at this verse. The last line tells us that MANY will follow their destructive ways.  Many is not all.  It is only a total apostasy if ALL fell away from the truth.  Just one little word makes all the difference between truth and falsehood.  Always read the proof text in context and pay attention to total meaning of the verses instead of being led to focus on one little part, such as the fact that false prophets came among the church.  Yes, there have been false prophets in the church and there will continue to be, but that does not mean EVERYONE has or is following them. There never was a total apostasy from the truth of God's Word. There has always been a remnant who have persevered in spite of persecution.

Hidden Treasures: What the Christian is Expected to Do in God's Power

2 Peter 1:5-9  But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.


Because God's "divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue," we are to do the things listed in the verse above.  We can do this because of His divine power in our lives.  He has not given us a command here that we can not obey.

The Christian life isn't a "let go and let God" sort of deal and then we float merrily on beds of ease through life.  The verse says "giving all diligence".  That means work!  We have to work at it.  We have to study the Bible to get the knowledge we need for a godly life.  Here are the things we have to work at:

Virtue: 1. Strength 2. Bravery 3. moral goodness 4. Moral excellence
Knowledge:  This takes time, and study of God's Word to learn His will for us.
Self Control: Being able to control your tongue and yourself
Perseverance: Hanging in there when the going gets tough
Godliness:  Christlike character that includes all of the above and more
Brotherly kindness: Being charitable toward others, even those who irritate you
Love: Includes all in 1 Corinthians 13

Hidden Treasures: We Have Been All Things for Life & Godliness

2 Peter 1:2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.


This is so important to know!  God's Word tells us that He has provided everything that we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

There are many out there who would try to tell you that this is not true.  They will say that you must be baptized by certain qualified individuals and into a certain church in order to have all that you need for life and godliness.  They will tell you that the Bible is not translated correctly, therefore there are certain parts of it that can't be trusted (Although, they can't tell you what is incorrectly translated.  If what you read to them is disagreeable to them, then THAT is the part that is incorrectly translated.)

Beware of those who try to add more to the gospel than what has already been given to us in the Bible.  God is powerful and He is powerful enough to preserve His Word down through the ages as He has without losing anything that is essential to our salvation.  To say that certain precious parts of the Bible has been lost over time necessitating the need for additional scripture, is simply another way of saying that God is not able to  and does not have the power to preserve His Word for us. If God can't do that, then God isn't God and we are of all men most miserable for if He can't preserve His own Word, then how can He preserve our souls from going to Hell?

Hidden Treasures: Restored, Confirmed, Strengthened and Established

1 Peter 5:10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.


I often focus on the suffering part.  But I should be focusing instead on the last part of this verse.  God himself will restore, confirm, strengthen and establish me!  What a comfort to look forward too!

Hidden Treasures: The Lord's Return

James 5:7-8 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.


Rick read a headline yesterday where some people apparently are not being very patient for the coming of the Lord.  They have put up billboards proclaiming that the Lord will return on May 21rst this year.  I guess they decided to try to Cockroach Deadline Delivery Method that we saw on the Cosby Show some years ago.

Perhaps they have not read their Bible clear through.  It says plainly that no man knows the time or day when the Lord will return.  It will be like a thief in the night.

 1Thess. 5:2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
 2Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

So it's not our job to set dates on the Lord's return.  It's our job to be patient while we wait for Him to return and to tell others the Good News of the Gospel so they can also be ready for His return.

Hidden Treasures: Sins of Omission

James 4:17  So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Here's where the rubber meets the road.  There are sins of commission, things you know to be sin, but you do it anyway, and then there are sins of omission, things you leave undone that you know you should do.

How easy it is to commit sins of omission!  Simply neglecting to do what you see at hand that needs to be done is sin.  Ouch!  

Hidden Treasures: Our Plans vs God's Plans

James 4:13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit";
 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
 15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."
 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
 17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.


I have my planner.  It's loaded to the hilt with things and places to be during the days, weeks and months ahead. It's hard to say, "If the Lords wills, I will do this or that."  So easy to just say, "I am going to do this and that." with no regard to God and His plans for me.  Verse 17 clenches it.  It is sin.

Hidden Treasures: The Proud & The Humble

James 4:6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.


Harsh words for the proud but wonderful words for the humble.  I need more grace....

Hidden Treasures: Answers to Prayer & My Wants

James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.


How often do we ask God for things not because we intend to honor Him  with it, but because we just WANT it to make ourselves happy.  This could apply to all kinds of request we ask of God.  We can learn our true motives for asking God for answers to our prayers by answering a few questions.

1. Why do I want God to answer this prayer request in the way I want?
2. Am I wanting this particular answer because it will make me feel better some how?
3. Am I wanting Him to answer my prayer a particular way because I want to protect His reputation (i.e. I don't want to have to defend His actions)
4. Am I going to be happy and content no matter what the answer is?

Hard questions.  I often find myself wanting a particular answer because I want Him to do things the way I think they should be done instead of allowing Him to be God and make the decisions how it should be done.  I want control.

Hidden Treasures: Here What True Wisdom Looks Like

James 3:13 ¶ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.
 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.
 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
(NKJV)

Hidden Treasures: Tamed vs. Controlled

James 3:1  but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.


When I first read this, I thought so what's the use?  On one hand we are told to bridle our tongues and control it but on the other hand we are told it can't be tamed.

Then as I thought about it, I realized something.  The author is not commanding us to do something that is impossible.  Taming and controlling are two different things.

Taming is similar to domesticating.  A lion "tamer" really does not domesticate a lion.  If this were true they would not need to keep it caged when it's not in the ring.  A lion "tamer" merely controls the lion.  The lion is still wild at heart and when provoked could easily take the lion tamer out.

It's the same with our tongues.  It can never be tamed in the sense of domesticated, but it can be controlled.  That's what we are commanded to do with our tongues...learn to control them.