The Coming of the Antichrist

Pastor Jonathan Cargill shares a powerful message on the antichrist, unpacking what Scripture teaches about this future world leader and the deception that will mark the last days. He explores why every believer must know who Jesus truly is, remain grounded in God's Word, and recognise the spirit of antichrist at work in the world today. This message will help you stand firm in the truth and be prepared for what lies ahead.

Our heart at Celebration Church Rarotonga is that this message will greatly bless your walk with Jesus and help bring you closer to Him. We pray that you would be stirred to live a life that is passionate about loving Jesus!

We would love to hear from you! Connect with us through the links below:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/celebrationraro
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/celebrationchurch_rarotonga/
Website: https://www.celebrationrarotonga.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Welcome to this week's podcast by Celebration Church Latatoga. We believe this message will empower and equip you to live a life of breakthrough. Thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Well, you doing all good? Oh man, how many excited to hear the word of God this morning? How many have got a hunger for his word? That's really good. Hey, uh, if you've been listening around to some podcasts and uh general teaching uh today, there's a lot of talk about the end times, okay? A lot of talk about the end times and a lot of interesting thought, talk about that. And uh, so anyway, so generally what's coming through is this uh our current economic, political, and I guess moral climate, is it conducive to the kind of atmosphere and environment that Christ is coming? So, with all the the things, the dynamics that are happening with the Middle Eastern War and so forth, uh, there's a lot of talk about it. And one of the one of the things is this if you believe in the rapture, the rapture, which I believe in the rapture, uh, where that takes place. So I'm gonna talk to you about the Antichrist this morning. Yeah. Well, everybody goes real quiet. I'm gonna tell you why I'm gonna talk about the Antichrist is this is because um is because we're realizing the generation of Christians that are coming through today aren't hearing some of the teaching that our forefathers taught. So our forefathers actually laid down some some realistic biblical uh foundation understandings for us, but what tends to happen from decade to decade, generation to generation, we begin to uh forget some of these things. So we kind of move on. But it's you gotta understand, truth stacks on top of truth. There's a whole lot of foundation truths. Just because we understand it in principle, it doesn't mean that we turn our back on it. There is a scripture that talks about the merchant, the parable. Uh Jesus talks about the merchant brings both old and new truths or old and new treasures out of the treasure box. And so we don't turn our back on it, oh, because we know that or we've heard that. There's always more revelation and insight in these things to come, and we embrace the complete new. It's actually not one or the other, it's both. And so I want to talk about this because the reason if you've been around church circles, the Antichrist, the figure of the Antichrist is to come just before the Messiah comes, just before the second coming of Christ. So if you believe in the rapture, then and you believe uh that the rapture could happen any moment, then we're on our guard, all right? We're on our guard, we're ready, we're ready to go. We've got our lives in order. If you don't believe that, then you're gonna we're believing to go through the seven-year period. I'll explain this in just a moment. Seven-year tribulation period, Jacob's trouble. We're gonna go through that. Either way, we've got to be prepared. So if you believe that we go and our brothers and sisters who aren't in Christ are left, then we want to know or left behind that we want to be able to pass the baton of truth on to them so that at least they have an understanding in that hour. Does that make sense? Okay, so I want to talk about, I want to dive straight into it. And uh, how many of you have your word this morning? Great. So there's two ways of looking at this. There are two separate ways. The first one is this is the antichrist is a system. Some people believe that antichrist is a system, okay? Well, the Bible's quite clear it's not a system. Uh, some there's also the teaching, which I'll get into next week. Some believe that the antichrist has actually occurred. The antichrist has actually been in history, but the Bible explains it has to be a future figure or future individual that is going to come, that's going to demand global attention, is going to be an interesting figure in our midst. But what's happening, and you've got to understand is I've got to understand this. Our world right now is being groomed. You ready? It's being groomed for the coming of the Antichrist. It's the worship, global worship of an individual. Pre-Christ. The good news is that we've got some answers here. The good news is there is truth, and the Antichrist teaching, if you like, you'll find it in Daniel. Uh, you'll find it in um uh what else is there? Uh 2 Thessalonians, 1 John, 2 John, and also in the book of Revelation, but all explaining the same individual, the same figure. There's 25 to almost 30 books in the Bible that speak of the end times. So we've got a lot of people say, Oh, I don't want to know about the end times, it's too frightening. The end times is not frightening. This is exhilarating. Seriously, this is exciting, this is adventurous. This is, you know, people say, I'd love to be alive when Smith Wilgers were to see the healings that took place. Mate, there are he healings that are taking place all through the continent of Asia and the continent of Africa, spasmatic, spasmodic through the Western world, where we uh into a bit more the tangibles, a bit more into science and different things. But God is at large, God is moving, and he's moving powerfully in the Western world. The revival's taking place all over the place, and it's incredible, it's exciting, eh? So let's give the Lord a hand for what he's doing. Okay, so what we'll do, we're gonna dive a little bit deep in here, okay. All right, now you you know about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Godhead. Okay, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I'm gonna teach on the Trinity. Not today, but we're gonna teach that. It's through our foundation series, but we're gonna teach on the Trinity. Some people say, if you understand this, is the dragon in the book of Revelation. So you have to come in a little bit. The dragon in the book of Revelation, we know that stands for Satan. No problem. We all all Bible scholars agree with that. The second thing is the first beast that comes out of the sea, out of the sea stands for political chaos, out of the sea, that is the antichrist. Okay, he replicates Jesus Christ the Messiah. What does the antichrist try and do? He wants to bring global peace and global prosperity. He does that for but a season. The third person is the second beast, and he comes out of the land or out of the earth, and he is what is called the false prophet, and he is the counterfeit of the Holy Spirit. What does his job do? What's his job? His job is to point the world. He's not a political figure, he's a religious figure. He points the world towards worshiping the beast, he points the world to worshiping the governmental figure of the antichrist. Okay, that's his role. Um, and so it's quite interesting there. So let's let's jump right into this. The word anti is interesting. Everyone to know what a word anti means. Word anti means against or in opposition to or it means to replace, okay? To replace, so it means in opposition to, against, and to replace. That is the word anti. So if you said I'm anti-Jewish or I'm an anti-Semite, you would be saying I'm against the Jewish community, I'm in opposition to them, and I want to replace them. Hamas has that charter, and Hezbollah has that charter and so forth. But that's what the word against is. The word Christ, anti-Christ, comes from the word Greek word Christos, which means the anointed one or the Messiah. So now we're saying anti, the anointed one, anti the Messiah to come. So we're gonna replace the Messiah, we're gonna be in opposition to the Messiah, and we are going to be against the Messiah. And you will see that replicated or mirrored in some of our ideologies. So, for example, I'll just jump straight into the deep here. You see that in uh atheism. Atheism pretty much denies the existence of God, right? Wants to replace God, like communism, with the state. So you worship the state, you worship the natural, what you see, but we don't believe in God, and we certainly do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So the roots behind Marxism and the foundation behind communism is by nature anti-Christ. You've got to understand that if you understand that. It's good. The second thing, we look, uh atheism is the same, communism is the same. Then let's look at Islam. Now the Bible is clear. If you deny the Son, you deny the Father. Very clear from scripture. If you deny the Son, you deny the Father. Islam embraces Jesus as a messenger, Isa is a messenger, is a prophet, but not the son of God. In fact, as soon as you say that Jesus Christ is God, he is the Son of God, it's actually blasphemy according to the teachings of the Quran and the following uh people who follow Allah. Okay, so that's interesting. So the Islamic faith itself is actually antichrist. Uh, you have other areas, I think, um aspects of Judaism where it braces uh God in a sense but denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. It's antichrist. We don't like to talk about that, but it is actually antichrist. And so anybody who wants to oppose Jesus Christ, who is against Jesus Christ, and who wants to replace Jesus Christ is carrying the spirit of Antichrist. Now, in the book of John, 1 John, 2, John, remember John who wrote the book of Revelation, the one that leaned on Jesus' uh uh breast and so forth, his chest, the close guy. In the book of uh John, uh uh John 1 and John 2, it's quite interesting because he talks about the spirit of antichrist. The spirit primarily is the atmosphere, it's the atmosphere of antichrist. Okay, it's the environment where people are against Christ. Deny Christ, don't recognize Christ, want to dismiss Christ, will love to replace Christ with anything else. That's called the spirit of antichrist, an atmosphere of it. Then there is antichrist's plural, antichrist coming. You've heard the antichrist is coming, but there are many antichrists. You would say and Adolf Hitler would have been an antichrist. In fact, in those days, because um uh there were people that uh our Jewish community, brothers and sisters, and that had the mark put on them or a number put on them, they in those days thought Adolf Hitler probably was the Antichrist. Okay, so there are political figures, there have been individuals through society and our communities worldwide that have carried the spirit of antichrist. All right, but there's so there are many antichrists, and then there is the anti-christ or the political figure of the antichrist singular, it's a one person, it's a male. Don't ask me who he is, I don't care to know actually. There's all sorts of people. Well, it's Donald Trump, come on, come on, it's Henry Kissinger, come on, and all sorts of people that we've in every kind of uh every decade, somebody's antichrist, and they try and work out his number, it's just like quit it. None of us know, but one day we will know, okay? Because he will set himself up as God, and uh, we're gonna see all that if we're here, and if you're raptured, praise God, then we won't see that, but other people will, and uh and so forth. But okay. Now there's five things about God, about Jesus, and some foundation teaching that's important for everybody here seated to know. Number one, Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is God. These aren't trick questions, folks. Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Thank you, Tudilal. Jesus literally rose from the dead. They are five basic, bottom line, fundamental, elementary understandings for every Christian to know. We anchor on those truths. Jesus is the Christ, Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus is God, Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Jesus literally rose from the dead. Okay? Now, for those who have your Bibles or devices, and for those who don't, that's okay. We're gonna uh see this behind me. I'm gonna give us about five scriptures and I'm gonna work through this, okay? This is actually quite important. 1 John 2, 18 says, Children, isn't it funny? He says, children. Teach us as children. If I said to you, hey children, it'll be kind of weird. But nonetheless, children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that this is the last hour or the last period, okay? 1 John 2, 22 and 23. Who is a liar? Now, ready for this? But he who denies, there we go, right there, that Jesus is the Christ. He is antichrist who denies, says it twice now. The father and the son. Whoever third time denies the son does not have the father either. He who acknowledges the son has the father also. So my brothers uh and uh friends who are Muslim and that overseas in Pakistan, places like that, they have a they they have what they call they are connected to Allah, Allah, okay, but because they don't have Jesus, Allah is very different from Yahweh. So let's just let's just can I just explain this? In the Old Testament, we it's Yahweh, Yahweh is the Father, he's God Almighty. But in the cult of Islam, which it is a cult, it's a death cult, Islam is a death cult, is Islam, they have their God, which is Allah. When Muhammad had the revelations, and I don't like using the word revelations because revelation is the divine truth, but when he began to be taught by an angel, he was not convinced that the angel itself was representing God. His wife said, Go back in there, I believe it's of God. She convinced him. So he went through and began to write. In order to get the Jewish community involved with Islam and its early formations, he began to look into the Old Testament as we have here and begin to copy the Sabbath. Copy where anti-Pork and copy a few bits and pieces. And that's why people say that Islam today is like the religion that's really of a Stone Age era. In some ways, there's truth in that. Okay? But what happens is that that's part of the Old Testament. They've copied some of the Old Testament, only a few little principles, and they've written a whole tirade in the Hadith and so forth of the teachings and uh so forth of in the Quran. But here's the here's the most important thing to know God the Father is very different from the concept of Allah. Very different, like totally different. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. In Islam, there's a complete denial of Jesus Christ being the Son of God. That's important for us to understand that. There may be good people, I know some good Muslims and and whatever, and this is not an attack on Muslims. I'm just trying to bring truth and unfold truth to us so we'd understand. But what does it say here? He who denies the Son, Jesus Christ, does not have the Father. Either he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. The word deny comes from our Greek word, and it means to refuse to recognize, declare as untrue, oppose and reject. It means to challenge, to decline who Christ is. That's what that word deny is. So you could put all those words in there and you could say this he who is who is a liar, but he who refuses to recognize, declares is untrue, opposes and rejects and challenges and declines that Jesus Christ is Lord. That's the spirit of Antichrist. So therefore, if you understand anything about Marxism or communism, that box gets ticked. If we understand by default that the denial of Jesus Christ with atheism, that box gets ticked. In the New Age concepts where Jesus is just another guru, Jesus is just another pathway or pathfinder, that box gets ticked. And you go right through different religions and so forth, it's very important who Jesus Christ is. That is a dividing line in our community because it's possible for people to say Jesus is a good person. Jesus is a great person. Jesus Christ, he's one of many, and we are favorable to Jesus. So if you preach about Jesus and healings and miracles in the platforms of where we go, it's okay. But as soon as I get up, or one of us gets up and say, categorically, you must understand, people through an interpreter, of course, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Jesus Christ's God said Himself, For I am the truth, I am the life, and no man comes to the Father except by me. For there is no other name given under heaven among men, whereby we must be saved at the name of Jesus Christ. For there is one God, one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. When you start talking like that, the atmosphere will change, depending who's in front of you as to whether you're going to get hurt or not. But essentially, you can talk in principle because they believe, because in the Quran it talks about Jesus, it's a completely distorted view on the Son of God. They call him Esau, but it's there in some ways. And so when I'm talking about Jesus, they think I'm referring to him. Unless the dividing line, I come forth and I say, no, Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And they believe at that point I've just spoken blasphemy. You got me now? Very important, because this is coming to the West thick and fast. Oh, yeah. 1 John 4, 1 and 3. 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. Interesting. By this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is 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 Antichrist, which you heard was coming and is now already in the world. I'd like to say right now, the Antichrist has not appeared in a public forum right now. No. He may be alive, he may be being nursed on the mother somewhere, or he may be edging his way through our communities or through our political area. He will be a like a hidden, and all of a sudden he will come to the forefront. 2 John 7 9. For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. That's very interesting. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Notice it comes down. You ready, church? It comes down to what we're confessing. That's it. So you could have a Bible professor, a seminary, a student in the second year could say, Listen to your teaching, uh, professor. It's been awesome, it's been really good. Would you ask us this question? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? And he would have to say, if he's a born-again Christian, yes, I believe, of course, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Because when I talk about Jesus Christ and the Bible talks about Jesus Christ, it's very different from the Mormons what they believe about Jesus Christ. We've got to make sure we're talking about the real thing, the real person. Very important. You're with me on that one. When the JWs talk about Jesus Christ, they talk about him being the Son, they believe he's a created Son. Jesus Christ was never created by God. Jesus Christ is God and He's part of the Godhead. That's very, very important fundamental teaching for us. Uh in Islam, they don't believe some some believe that Jesus. Went to the cross and he was taken off, but they do not believe that he's the son of God, and they do not believe he was rose from the dead, risen from the dead. Don't believe that. The Bible says if you reject the claims of Jesus like this, you are rejecting the Father. Very, very important for us. Very, very important for us. I think what's happening in the church today, we're kind of um cruising along somewhat, and it's almost there's a world within the world that's happening around us. We have to have our in fact, I felt like the other day, uh I wrote this down, and I'm not talking to you guys, so please, I'm not trying to offend anybody here, and uh, but I think generally speaking, in the West, I think half the West is asleep. I'm talking about the church in the secular world or the world, the blinded, but for us, I think we're asleep. And how well we could say that is because it's taught so well by Jesus in the parables of uh the virgins and so forth in Matthew 25, but it's asleep. And remember, the Lord gave me that word, he wants to awaken us on the inside. Remember the sons of Issach, they knew the season they were in, and I think you could be busy as anything, but remember who you are, remember who you are and the mandate Christ has given you. Very important. Remember who you are and the mandate that Christ, because you want your ladder up against the right building. You want to be doing the right thing when Christ returns. Because Jesus talks time and time and time again in his parables about those who are caught sleeping and napping. Here's an acid test for us how to identify false spirits, ministries, concepts, and ideologies. Now remember Jesus in Matthew 7, 15 or so, he talks about um there will be sh uh there will be wolves coming, but in sheep's clothing. You know what I mean? So it's a wolf on the inside, but it's wearing the attire of a sheep. So the conversation is spiritual, the advertising is spiritual, the welcoming is all embracing and empowering and spiritual. But underneath, Jesus is warning us himself that inside it's actually an imposter. Somebody who is not a true representation of Christ Himself. It's not, it's an imposter. You would think, why don't you just don't you say I'm a Satanist, come and join us? Or I'm into this, come and join us. It doesn't always work that way. Why? Because there is the angel of light aspect. A lot of people are good people in our community, may not be say, but they don't want to do anything gross, they don't want to belong to a cult, they don't want to get tired up, but they're just interested in earning money and and having a great time in life, but the enemy wants to jam them down and make and ruin their lives, so he's not gonna say, hey, give I'll give you these drugs, mate. You'll be dead in six months. Why don't we do this? No, no, no. He says, hey, everybody else is doing it, it's okay. You know, we've got slack laws right now. There's so much lawlessness in our in our judiciary system. You're gonna be okay, a slap on the wrist might be right, and you're gonna get the buzz. And tomorrow you'll be fine like all of us. And it's sold that way. It's the angel of light. Masquerading is the angel of light. He doesn't always come like that spirit of antichrist. You know, within six minutes you're dead. Follow us now. It doesn't come like that. It comes like, no, no, please, would you come to my little group after hours? It's gonna be awesome for you. You know what I'm saying? That's called seduction. Okay. Do you know how you can tell the spirit of antichrist? It's this area. It's when when we're talking about when we're talking about the the wolf and sheep's clothing, Jesus talks about it, it's not actually just talking about behavior or habits or conduct or lifestyle. Read the scripture clearly. It's talking about what they confess, it's talking about what they don't confess. So, like I said, people can talk about all sorts of stuff, but here's the number one question: What do you believe about Jesus Christ? That's the dividing line, and that determines, that determines whether the spirit of antichrist abounds, or that determines, see you see, let me tell you this. There are a lot of political figures, respectfully, and I'm not talking about Raratonga, so please, I'm not talking about our guys, I'm talking about generally speaking. There's a lot of celebrities will get up and say we're Christian. How many of you heard that? Honestly, uh, media presenters uh presenters, all sorts. Oh, we're Christian, we're Christian. Podcasters, we're Christian. Um, those those who do interviews, oh, I'm a Christian. Okay, so everybody thinks, oh, great, so-and-so is a Christian. Yeah, great. But you ask them this little question. First up, are you living the life of a Christian? Is one thing, but we'll just put that aside, shall we? What do you actually believe about Jesus Christ? Do you actually believe that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead? Do you believe he is God? Do you believe he's the Son of God? And all of a sudden, they'll either not say anything or they'll go into complete denial, exposing themselves. So that's very important for us. And the reason why I'm going down this line, because you'll understand that the antichrist, when he comes, he will be so opposed to Jesus Christ. The spirit of antichrist is actually in some of our seminaries. You might shock you. Some of them don't actually, but some of them believe in a thing called universalism, which means, oh, I think there's many ways. I don't think it's all tied into Christ. There are many ways, many bridges, many doors, many windows, many ways to to God, not just Jesus. There's no uniqueness about Jesus. That's the spirit of antichrist at work. Denying the Son, denying the Son's claims, denying the Son's authority, denying the Son's rulership, denying his reign. Okay, you got it. 2 Thessalonians 2, 3 and uh 12, and Paul's addressing this church, and we say, Oh, we don't really need to talk about that. These guys are only saved, please, for about six months to a year, born again. And he's given them some pretty tough meat, okay, to swallow. Pick it up in verse 3. Let no one deceive you by any means. For that day, talking about the return of Jesus Christ, that's the context. That day, very important that we go slow and we look at it for what it's worth. That day. For that day will not come. What day? He just talked about when Jesus Christ actually returns to this earth. Christ is going to return. The Bible says that every knee will bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is going to return in judgment on the nations, and he's going to return on as Lord and Savior for his people globally. Very important. It will not come unless, unless. So there's a qualification. Hey, something's not going to happen until this happens, or unless something happens. So let's look at the uh unless, shall we? Number one, the falling away comes first. So, okay, before Jesus comes, we've got a bit of a timeline here. Let's have a look. Sequence of events. Okay, number one, before Jesus Christ returns, the day of the Lord is, there's going to be a falling away. That word is apostasy. We'll talk about it in a minute. It comes first, and then the man of sin is revealed the son of perd. That is the Antichrist right there. The son of perdition, the word perdition means doom, son of doom or son of destruction. So, like Judas, Iscariot, he was also called the son of perd, the son of doom, the son of destruction. That guy there is it carries the same spirit, opposed and opposition to God. In there. Part of the part of part of taking up the offerings, the treasury department. Part of, you know, he's right in there religiously. But it when it came push to shove, he actually was able to come against Jesus Christ. And the Bible says really he's the son of perdition. It'd be worse, remember this? That he was never born. Remember? Now they're saying the antichrist, because there's only two people in scripture, is called the son of perdition. One was Judas the betrayer, and number two is the antichrist to come. The son of destruction and the son of doom. So both of them are carrying destruction in terms of where they're going to go into the lake of fire, yes, but also what they are propagating, they are promoting destruction. It'll come this way. The coming of the lawless one, that's the coming of the sinful one, that's the son of perdition, the antichrist one is according to the working of Satan himself. Who's behind the man of the Antichrist? Is he half human? Is he half demon spirit? No, he is complete human, but demonized to the lid, but completely human. Sold himself out to the purposes of the enemy, but he's human. He's not a hybrid, half man and half demon on the scene. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. He's a complete human being. Was born in a womb and came out of man. And it says this the coming of the Lord's one is according to the wickedness with all power, signs, and lying wonders. Verse 10, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth. Who's that? Jesus. I am the way, the truth. Okay? Thy word is truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason, verse 11, God will send them a strong delusion that they should believe the lie. Now, this is interesting. Let me dot down on this a little bit. We don't teach much, and I have a series about the judgment and a series about justice and reward systems, the great right throne, and also the um the judgment seat of Christ. It's coming. But we don't actually talk about the severity, behold, the goodness. We talk about the goodness a lot, the grace of God, the love of God, how forgiving is awesome. But there is another aspect of God. I'll give you this way. In the church today, and I listened to Natasha listened to this uh really good speaker, and I think he's in Texas, but he gave an illustration about a horse. He said, I grew up to respect horses. And he said, My father would put me in a stable with a horse, it's a huge horse, he told us how big it was, big horse, maybe a draft horse or something. But he said I'd be in this uh 10 feet by 10 feet little stable, and there I was at dark at night time. I was afraid of horses, but I knew that if I was in front of the horse and I and I treated the horse with honor and respect, I was going to be okay. But he said, Here's the difference, though. If I went up behind the horse, grabbed his tail, and said, Hey, I'm gonna discover a different aspect to the horse that I wasn't used to. Okay? Illustration. There is an aspect to God that's pretty serious. That's the Bible talks about the fear of the Lord. So it's not just, oh Jesus, you're my shine, you're my mate, you're it's just I ain't gonna bring that down. There's an aspect to God. Understand this. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. It says God is not marked. Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. God's not marked. So, what I want to do, I want to present there's another aspect to God. God is merciful, God is gracious, God is uh forgiving, he's right there, his mercy endures forever, he won't leave us nor forsake us. All of that is stooped in truth. But I want to say it's backed up. It's backed up by an aspect of God that God will judge unholiness if it's unrepented of. Matthew 25, reading it this morning, you see there's a separation between those who are the goats and those who are the sheep. And those who are the sheep, those who are their conduct, their lifestyle is following Christ, are relegated to the right side. The Bible says those who didn't follow Christ and look after the poor and so forth are relegated to the left side, into the Bible says there's eternal destruction. Okay, we don't talk about that much, but we have to understand there are people in the church today aren't even sure if the place of hell exists. If so, where would it be? We're gonna teach you about that too. About Hades and that to give us a biblical foundation of it. Verse 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, Christ in truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. This is the judgment that comes on the world because those who love darkness more than light in John 3 19, and this is the condemnation that light has come into the world, that's Christ, and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Okay, so let's look at this word apostasy. What on earth does apostasy mean? Remember, I told you this? We are see before Christ comes, before the big trumpet and the rapture and so forth, the trumpet comes, and the dead in Christ shall be risen first. Remember that? Those scriptures you read? What happens before that happens? The season before it, this season, the Bible says there'll be a falling away. What does that mean? That means we're gonna lose half the church, they're gonna backslide. What does that mean? Okay, one or three. Number one, apostasy means this. It means a falling away from a previously held position. It's a conscious turning away from. In other words, it's like this, like this. It's not getting into alcohol, perhaps pornography, getting into our relationships, and we're sliding away back into the world, and we've still got something within us that's aching, and something within us that's still resonates with God, and not denying him. That's not what this is, please. That's just backsident. No, this is very different. This is a deliberate denial, it's a turning a back on Jesus and deciding, conscious decision to walk away from the things of the kingdom. In college in America, I think it's something like 78% of evangelical uh guys that are leaving high school into college end up turning their back on Christianity, not just backslidden folks, not just because they got on a party at nighttime and decided mom and dad weren't there, and over months and months they're deciding to leave it all. No, no, no, this is a conscious decision. My professor says there's no God. I'm not even sure there is God, and I'm gonna sell my wild oats, I'm gonna turn this way, and this is the way I'm going. That's a conscious decision. It's not just being backsted, it is a deliberate decision to walk away from Jesus. I know of people that have done that, okay? So that's what we're going to see, and we are seeing it. You'll be surprised. We're seeing that particularly in the Western world right now. People have got discouraged with God, or they're discouraged that God hasn't come through with them. They're saying, I'm giving up, I'm no longer giving uh going to church anymore, I'm no longer gonna embrace the faith anymore, I'm gonna do my own thing. That's part of the apostasy, that's part of the falling away that this is talking about. The next level is this society, and I want you to put your heads up on this one. It's when society itself throws off common decency. In other words, society itself still had some form of moral parameter and moral absolutes. And when it's now you can do what you want and you can be what you want, and and uh it's just like, man, it's up to them. It's just like, man, we're you know, we it it's just like it's talking now, society itself is sunk down to the bottom rung. So and we're seeing that right now. My goodness, the the Western world, a liberalism, the liberal aspect of of uh our Western world is shameful, it's embarrassing, it's so anti-Jesus, it's anti the word of God, and that there itself, where I see the the rise of the uh of liberalism or say it for what it is, the LGBTQ plus community, all that. If you want to be, you do. If you want to be, you do, that's fine that you do that. You you like me will be held accountable. But when you propagate it and you try to bring it into uh the schooling system on our children, then that's a different battleground. You know what I'm saying now? But it's not just that, it's not just those guys, it's everything else. There's other stuff that's coming into the world, into our world that I won't mention in the pulpit. I don't know if I ever could mention it's so deeply dark and disgraceful, it is so gross and contested, it's so warped in its mentality, but it's now been discussed by doctors and psychologists to say that this is normal. It's coming. And so, what I want to present to us is we're seeing our communities losing what we call its moral fabric, it's losing our absolutes, our standards, and now everything goes, you could do what you like, and and it's like somebody who murders somebody, and uh, and rather than getting, well, I think it should be rather than getting 30, 40 years, it's not even 15 years, it's two years. You just killed someone, you just murdered someone, and now you're getting you've been given like two years or three years. You know what I'm saying? That yeah, and so we're talking about this area coming through like that, so it's society throwing off our moral values, and number three is this the rejection of truth, the denial of the resurrection, the denial of the virgin birth, the denial of the trinity. We've got a church here that denies the trinity, the denial of the identity of Christ, the denial of the incarnation, who Christ is coming in the flesh, the denial of the authority of scriptures, the denial of the coming of Christ in his kingdom. We're seeing that now. From you might not see that because you may not be, but we see it. It's happening, and it's happening thick and fast. In fact, they're saying this, even the theologians and Bible scholars of old may have lived compromising lives and terrible lives, some of them, but at least theologically, some of them actually believe generally soundness. But today, there's a denial of these things mass scale, the last hundred years. Incredible. So we're seeing an apostasy. So the teaching, if I was to go on, I'm gonna I would go into the next level, but I'm actually uh, which a deeper level, but um on some areas to do with this, and actually identifying how are we gonna know what's the job description of the antichrist, what's Jesus Christ exactly gonna do about it, how can we warn our people, how can we be identified? Uh, that we're gonna go into the old testament, we're gonna go to the new testament. But this is what I want to ask us to do this morning. I want us, one of the things the Lord showed me is this said, I want you to make my name great. I want you to make my name great. And the Lord has clearly spoke to me about two years ago, make my name great. When it comes to us praying, we just I I think put his name in there. Uh, just as a tip. So it's Lord, we thank you. Amen. And everyone goes, Ameny. I think we should say in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Let's stand up for that name. That name is the very name that broke the bondages of our lives. That name is the name, you ready? The name above all names, above all names. That name there is blasphemed in the highways and the byways. They don't say our arah or Buddha, it's Jesus Christ, the holy name, the holy one of Israel, and so every opportunity we can have to exalt his name, God answered my prayers, children, in the name of Jesus Christ. Paul said, or was it Peter said it was faith in his name. In his name. On our website, you can go in there, we can talk about his name, all the scriptures about identifying Jesus as the Son of God, Jesus as the Son of Man, how we know he's the Son of God, all sorts of things in there. It's a bit of a rough coat, but it's all in there, and it was scriptures and so forth. You'll see it. But Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now, now, what we need to do, I think as a church, we need to exalt his name. We should write songs about Jesus Christ. In our prayer meetings, we should declare the name of Jesus Christ. Declare his blood, the redemptive power of Christ. Don't shy back from it because when we're in uh different circles and we say customary prayers, sometimes we've got these people and that people, and it's easier to say amen because even non Christians will sometimes out of respect close their eyes, which is awesome. I appreciate that. But no, this is different. We are saying we come in the name of Jesus Christ. We don't come in the name of religion, we don't come in the name of spiritual principles, we don't come from a certain theological bent. And truth, we come in the name of Jesus Christ. We are blood bought by Jesus Christ. He is the one. He's the one that's redeemed us. He's the one that's transformed us. He's the one that's putting us on the conveyor belt of change. He's the one. It's Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the gateway to the Father. There's no other name. That's why the name is cast down. That's why the name is blaspheme. You will see the Antichrist will sit as God and blasphemes the name of Christ. Blasphemes the name of God. He sits as God. I'm excited about him. Oh, serious. And so when I when I read that song, which Darlene Check, whatever her name is, about Jesus in the streets, Jesus for my family. All of that I thought, hallelujah. Hallelujah. I want to encourage us. We are carrying the most powerful weapon, the most powerful name. It's greater than the king's signature ring. Yeah. It's greater than any signature in this world. It's the anointing of the Holy Spirit that sits around that name. That even if you are jammed in a prison cell, shackles can break. Yeah? Shackles can break, earthquakes can take place, and you can walk out. The gate supernaturally can open for you. You can walk out completely free. It's the name of Jesus Christ that's setting the Islamic world free. Listen, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people are coming to Christ in the Islamic areas in Asia and the Middle East and Africa and so forth combined. They're coming in the name of Christ. They're not coming in the name of religion. They're not coming in the name of even Christianity, what we believe and what we don't. No, no, no, they're not coming. They're coming in the name of Christ. How do you come? And that's why you can say to somebody, a spirit comes to you in the night, he can say, Have you come in the flesh? Do you recognize Jesus Christ has come in the flesh? And the thing takes off, honestly. When someone says to me, they knock on my door and they say, Oh, we believe in the Son of we believe in Jesus as the Son of God. Let's qualify our terms up front. Do you believe Jesus Christ is God? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Do you believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead? Do you believe these things? And then it's just like, oh well, um, okay. Then you understand the playing field because what the enemy has always tried to do, and someone here, you're sitting here, you told me about this the other day, and I thought it was really good. The idea is deception never looks black and white, deception runs right up to what we believe. Deception can look like what we believe. Remember a wolf in a sheep's clothing looks like on the outside. Oh, brother, yeah, yeah, praise God, brother. All this, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We have to know it. Sounds black and white, but this is how the Bible teaches it. We're we're we don't like dichotomy today. We don't we like to blend and to flow and to be part of, and nobody likes to offend anybody else. It's all in the big pot together. Well, okay, let me tell you this: the dividing line is sheep and goats. Jesus said, if you're not for me, you're against me, you're not gathering, you're scattering. He says, No man can serve two masters, either he will hate the one, love the other, hold to the one, or despise the other. There's the dividing line, and the world is going to be separated from the left and the right, depending on the confession of Jesus Christ and of course the lifestyle that backs it up. Proof that we've got him inside of us. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 48:01

If you enjoyed this message, feel free to subscribe and leave a review. We'd also love to hear from you. You can connect with us on Instagram or Facebook at Celebration Raro or visit our website, celebrationdaratonga.com. Until next time.