EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/28/2024 10:10 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “The Characteristics of
Antichrists”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 John 2:19,
22-23, 26”
Message of the verses: “19 They went out
from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us,
they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be
shown that they all are not of us… 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies
that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father
and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who
confesses the Son has the Father also…26 These things I have written to you
concerning those who are trying to deceive you.”
It is not very many times that I write these
Spiritual Diaries that I find that the verses that I am looking at are not all
in order, but that is the way that John MacArthur has set up this section, a
section that will not be as long as the introduction for us to get through.
The
subject that we have been talking about for some time is about antichrists, and
eventually the Antichrist, and it is antichrists who infiltrate the church and
also mingle among true believers as they attempt to destroy by three characteristics. Now the first one is that they depart from
the fellowship. What they do is enter
the church only to sabotage it through an often-sophisticated strategy of false
teaching an also lies. The truth is that
eventually most depart, separating from true Christians, leaving a path of
spiritual destruction in their wake, and inevitably taking some of the weak
with them.
I
had a friend who is now with the Lord who grew up during World War 2, when he
was a teenager. He told the story of
going out one day with the intent of killing himself, but he said that his
mother who had never came looking for him did that day and so she stopped him
from killing himself. He eventually
ended up in the United States after the war and settled in Cleveland,
Ohio. He was going to a church in
Cleveland and was very upset with the deacons who were running it, and perhaps
they could have been described as antichrists.
My friend, Paul began to pray and he said that every month for a number
of months one of the deacons died until the others figured out that they were
doing something wrong. In this case
these antichrists did go out from them, but not in the way that John is
describing in these verses.
MacArthur
writes that “Some who remained are confused and left wondering if the false
teachers and their ‘converts’ took the real truth with them when they
left. They might also find themselves
asking why their professed brethren, if they had really been part of the true church,
had so readily followed the antichrists.
Such questions were apparently being asked by John’s readers. And the apostle addressed all those doubts
with the simple statement, The went out from us, but they were not really of
us.”
Today being Thanksgiving day in our country was a
day where my wife and I went over to our daughter and son-in-laws house for our
evening Thanksgiving dinner. They had
also invited a young married couple to be with us. We had turkey and other special dishes along
with pumpkin pie, played some games and watched a little American
football. Also in attendance was four of
our seven grand-children from ages to almost 11-18. It seems like that they grow up so fast. All in all we had a great time and part of
that was being thankful for family and friends.
11/28/2024 10:36 PM
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