The Portrait of an Anti-Christ | Ears to Hear #15

I discuss the traits of an anti-christ and why it is very important we don't let the anti-christ take root in our hearts. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to this episode of Ears to Hear. By the end of today's episode, you should know a lot about the Antichrist and really what that means. I know that's kind of heavy, but I think it's important. It's very important. It's been on my mind recently, so I want to dive into this. So let's talk about the portrait of an Antichrist. So I'm going to go through, and these are principles about the Antichrist that are scriptural. They're based in doctrine. And I think the first and foremost of these character traits of an Antichrist, of the Antichrist, I'm going to say a general Antichrist. I'm not talking about a specific person. Not yet, at least. Alright. They use flattery to win disciples. Okay. So when there is an Antichrist, it's common that there is like a devious form of charisma involved. I think this is obviously shown in the narrative of the Garden of Eden with Satan. The words and the questions and the lies with dabbles of truth in them that Satan uses, that the serpent uses to beguile Adam and Eve, are very devious. They're very flattering to the ear. So that is first and foremost. If it sounds too good, it probably is. And that's what Satan does is he takes your favorite sin and uses it and just twists it a little bit so that you keep indulging. Second, they accuse the prophets or any religious leader of teaching false doctrine. So they're quick to point out that's wrong. They're not justifying what they're doing is right. They're first gonna say what you're teaching is wrong because it doesn't allow you to do what you want to do. You know, that's their tactic is first tear down what is truth so that there isn't any truth to argue anymore. They can now portray their teaching as the truth. They have a limited view of reality, meaning it seems that they're never ever looking beyond the right here, right now. Most temptations revolve around some sort of instant gratification. I don't know if Satan has ever tempted anybody to achieve a reward over a long period of time. Like, you know, something like most of those things are wholesome. Like if you are overweight and want to become healthy, and your process is to go to the gym and and just get on a food plan and all these things, like that's gonna take a long time. Satan doesn't care about like persuading anyone to do stuff like that. He wants you to make a decision right here, right now, that affects you today and gratifies him. And he's gonna do that through dopamine, through any vice he can that is usually instant, usually quick, and you know, it's like a get rich quick scheme. That's Satan's that's his whole thing. Antichrists usually have a disposition to misread and thereby misinterpret the word of God. So they're able to take things, such as the idea that Adam and Eve, you should take the fruit, you're gonna be as the gods, knowing good from evil. Okay, pause, time out. There's some truth in that. If you take the fruit, they will know the difference between good and evil. That is a truth. And he's saying you'll be as the gods. Okay, well, what is he getting at here? Again, he's using flattery, he's using all these things, but he's misreading the purpose, the true purpose that is going on. And he's again using it to enact his design, his plan, his will. And last but not least, they seek signs. An antichrist wants tangible, visible evidence. They want to see a sign. And that's not that's not what Christ wants us to do. If you're seeking a sign, it's because you lack faith, and nobody lacks more faith than Satan. Satan is prideful, he's egotistic, and when I'm saying Satan, I'm also meaning antichrist, because that's where the seeds of the deception come from. And that is the portrait of the Antichrist. These character traits, and these are just some, there's probably more, but these are the most like standout things about an Antichrist. Now, why on earth are we focusing and talking about this? This is kind of random, it seems a little intense. Well, it it seems we always talk about the Antichrist in a way where it's like talking about somebody specific. You know, we we read revelations and we read these prophecies in the Bible, and we're expecting an Antichrist to come back or to come in these last days and like be really prevalent. Okay, okay, sure, whatever. I don't care about that. Maybe I should, I don't. That's not my focus right now. I'm not concerned about an individual Antichrist. I'm concerned with the truth of this statement and taking it to a generally more open-ended idea, but that I think is very true and very scriptural. And when you reread scriptures and we talk about Christ and an Antichrist, this personal application means way much more to me than like one personage in the last days who's gonna just ruin your day. And what I'm talking about is yourself. I'm talking about you, your heart. There is that super cringy, corny. I don't know if it's like a Native American story or proverb or whatever, but it's about it's the grandson. I think it's like the Cherokee grandson talking to his or grandfather talking to his grandson about the two wolves. You probably already know what I'm talking about, but essentially there's two wolves inside of us all. One is evil, one is good, and the evil you feed it, this and that, and lust and and wickedness and sin and drugs and pride and vanity and all these things. And the good wolf is kindness, loves, patience, peace, all these amazing meekness, all these amazing attributes. And the grandson's like, Well, which wolf wins? Which wolf wins, grandpa? The grandpa goes, the one you feed, dun dun dun. And I albeit it's corny, however, that is that is the story, that is the truth of Christ and the Antichrist. Christ comes to the earth and he preaches, become like me, be ye therefore perfect, as your father in heaven is perfect. That is the point to become like Jesus Christ a little bit more each and every day. Well, then Satan's goal would be the antithesis of that, which would be become like me, become anti-Christ, do everything opposite that Christ would do. And when you think about it, when you think about your sins and your struggles, the hardships you face, the vices you have, that is the quote unquote natural man or woman within you. And when you feed that, those things get worse. And overall, on like a spectrum of a hundred percent like Christ or a hundred percent like Satan, where what where would you draw that line? Are you like 80-20 for the positive? Are you 1090 on the negative of that scale? And I don't know if that's that black and white. It's that's a very hard line to draw in my 50-50. Forget drawing the line there, but ask yourselves: what are you doing to get rid of the Antichrist that's trying to grow within you? What are you doing to feed Christ in your heart? And that's the point. That's the point, is the portrait of the Antichrist is important to know because which of those things do you do? Do you seek signs? I I do sometimes. I do. I want to see God's hand in my life, and I'll say that and I'll fail to notice all these amazing little things he actually does for me. I want some big boom gender reveal-esque sign right in front of me. That's what I want. Well, boom, there we go. I'm not feeding the Christ-like part of me, I'm feeding the antichrist part of me. Okay. Am I do I use flattery to like get people to follow me? And that's like a very specific one, but I I do sales, I'm a sales guy officially. So how do I go about my sales? Is it moral? Is it ethical? Am I like lying to close a deal? Or do I genuinely try and connect and help people see that this product can make their business X, Y, and Z better? There's a difference there. There's a difference there. And there's much better examples for this than like me being a salesperson or whether I want to seek signs. But it's important to know like you need to crush the Antichrist within you. Again, that sounds so intense and extreme, but it's because I was meeting with a leader in my faith, and he said, he asked me that. He goes, What are you doing to rid yourself of the Antichrist in you? And I was like, Antichrist in me? A Christian of 26 years, it and what do you mean, Antichrist in me? Like, bro, I I come here every Sunday. I'm I'm you're repenting, I'm doing good. Like, like I just felt so like I felt attacked. And then as I just sat back and was like, no, he's actually right. Like, that is kind of the point of being here. Which which one am I feeding? Who am I becoming more like each and every day? So I don't want to like get too much more into this. I just kind of want to like lobby that thought process to you. Look at the portrait of the Antichrist. We've talked about the portrait of Christ before, you know, not directly, but over the course of my episodes. Hopefully, you have an idea of the portrait of Christ and what it means to become like him. And how are you doing? That's the question. When you look in the mirror, who are you gonna be that day? Who are you gonna feed? And that's what I wanted to share today. Thanks for tuning in. Catch you next week.