Thursday, November 28, 2024

PT-1 "The Characteristics of Antichrists" (1 John 2:19, 22-23, 26)

 

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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