What is an antichrist? | Eastern Lightning

What is an antichrist?

What is an antichrist?

Relevant Words of God:

In the time when God had not become flesh, the measure of whether man opposed God was based on whether man worshiped and looked up to the invisible God in heaven. The definition of “opposition to God” at the time was not so real, for man then could neither see God nor know the image of God or how He worked and spoke. Man had no conceptions of God and believed in God in vagueness, for He had not appeared to man. Therefore, however man believed in God in their imaginations, God did not condemn man or ask much from man, for man could not see God at all.
When God becomes flesh and comes to work among men, all behold God and hear His words, and all see the doings of God in the flesh. At that time, all the conceptions of man dissolve into nothing but foam. As for those who see the God appearing in the flesh, all who have obedience in their hearts shall not be condemned, whereas those who purposefully stand against Him shall be deemed an opponent of God. Such men are antichrists and are enemies who willfully stand against God.

from “All Who Do Not Know God Are Those Who Oppose God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Anyone who does not recognize God is an enemy; that is, anyone within or without this stream who does not recognize God incarnate is an antichrist! … Those people who believe only in Jesus and do not believe in God incarnate during the last days and those who verbally claim to believe in God incarnate but do evil are all antichrists, let alone those people who do not believe in God. These people will all be destroyed.

from “God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The most rebellious person is one who intentionally defies and resists God. He is the enemy of God and the antichrist. Such a person constantly bears a hostile attitude toward the new work of God, has never shown the smallest intention of submitting, and has never gladly shown submission or humbled himself. He exalts himself before others and never shows submission to anyone. Before God, he considers himself the most proficient in preaching the word and the most skillful in working on others. He never discards the treasures already in his possession, but treats them as family heirlooms for worship, for preaching about to others, and uses them to lecture those fools who idolize him. There are indeed a certain number of people like this in the church. It can be said that they are “indomitable heroes,” generation after generation sojourning in the house of God. They take preaching the word (doctrine) to be their highest duty. Year after year and generation by generation, they go about vigorously enforcing their “sacred and inviolable” duty. None dare touch them and not a single person dares openly reproach them. They become “kings” in the house of God, running rampant as they tyrannize over others from age to age. This pack of demons seeks to join hands and demolish My work; how can I allow these living devils to exist before My eyes?

from “Those Who Obey God With a True Heart Shall Surely Be Gained by God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Those who are not cautious when they encounter the new work of the Holy Spirit, who run their mouths off, are quick to judge, who give free rein to their natural instinct to deny the rightness of the Holy Spirit’s work, and also insult and blaspheme it—are such disrespectful people not ignorant of the Holy Spirit’s work? Are they not, furthermore, the ones of arrogance, inherently proud and ungovernable? …

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… After finding their belief in God, some people can’t even say with certainty where man came from, yet they dare to make public speeches appraising the rights and wrongs of the Holy Spirit’s work. And they even lecture the apostles who have the Holy Spirit’s new work, passing comment and speaking out of turn; their humanity is too low, and there is not the slightest sense in them. Will the day not come when such people are rejected by the work of the Holy Spirit, and burned by the fires of hell? They do not know the work of God, but instead criticize His work, and also try to instruct God how to work. How can such unreasonable people know God? … the less people know of God, the more likely they are to oppose Him. Your conceptions, your old nature, and your humanity, character and moral outlook are the “capital” with which you resist God, and the more corrupt, degraded and low you are, the more you are the enemy of God. Those who are possessed of grievous conceptions and have a self-righteous disposition are even more in enmity of God incarnate, and such people are the antichrists.

from “Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Those who read the Bible in grand churches recite the Bible every day, yet not one understands the purpose of God’s work. Not one is able to know God; moreover, not one is in accord with the heart of God. They are all worthless, vile men, each standing on high to teach God. Though they brandish the name of God, they willfully oppose Him. Though they label themselves believers of God, they are ones who eat the flesh and drink the blood of man. All such men are devils who devour the soul of man, demons who purposefully disturb those who try to step onto the right path, and stumbling blocks that impede the path of those who seek God. Though they are of “robust flesh,” how are their followers to know that they are antichrists who lead man in opposition to God? How are they to know that they are living devils who specially seek souls to devour?

from “All Who Do Not Know God Are Those Who Oppose God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The Man’s Fellowship:

What is the most accurate definition of antichrists? Antichrists do not acknowledge God incarnate, they do not acknowledge there is such a thing as God’s incarnation, they only acknowledge that Jesus was once incarnated in the flesh. That is something they have no choice but to acknowledge, for if they did not acknowledge that, believers would abandon them even more. So, those who do not acknowledge God becoming flesh to carry out His work among man are all antichrists. If these antichrists were able to be around at the time that the Lord Jesus was carrying out His work on earth, do you think that they would have been able to accept Him? Of course not! If those people now in religious communities were around at the time that the Lord Jesus was carrying out His work, 90% of them would not believe in Him. Remember this. It is absolute. So, what kind of people will ultimately be saved? It is those who believe in God incarnate, those who accept the work and the words of the Son of man incarnate. These are the people who have the truest faith in God, and any among them who truly seek the truth shall be saved and perfected. It doesn’t matter how low their status is. God will lift the needy from the dunghill, for God is righteous! The antichrists in the religious community do not acknowledge God incarnate. They think that anything that bears witness to God incarnate carrying out work among people is an evil cult or a heresy. Anyone who thinks in this way is an antichrist. Because antichrists do not acknowledge God incarnate, they are like the Jewish chief priests and elders who did not acknowledge Jesus. Therefore, these religious leaders are all antichrists, they are all nonbelievers. In the eyes of God, they are people who do not believe in Him. Is this an appropriate argument to make? It is 100% correct!

from “How to Stand Witness Amidst Disasters and Trials” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (V)

Most pastors and leaders in religious circles are people who refuse Christ and hate the truth. They serve God yet defy Him. They believe only in the God in heaven, but deny the incarnate Christ. The fact that they could be enemies of Christ and hate, condemn, slander, defame, vilify, hunt, and murder Him proves that they have already committed the heinous sin of nailing Him to the cross once more. This is unshakable proof of the resistance of God in religious circles. Nobody could dispute this. Many parts of the Bible said that in the last days many false Christs and antichrists will surely appear. John the apostle said: “And as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time” (1Jn 2:18). “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist” (2Jn 1:7). To be precise, all those who deny and condemn the incarnate Christ are antichrists. All those that only admit the God in heaven but not the incarnate Christ are antichrists, people who defy and oppose God. During the Age of Grace, when God was first incarnated, all those that condemned the Lord Jesus and denied that He was God incarnate were antichrists, so the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of Judaism all belonged to this bunch of antichrists. In the last days, when the second coming of the Lord Jesus—Almighty God—has been revealed, pastors and leaders in religious circles all deny and condemn Almighty God, who has incarnated, therefore they are all genuine antichrists.

from “Why the Religious World Has Always Resisted God While Serving Him” in Collection of Sermons—Supply for Life

The religious world is made up of people who all believe in God, who among them can most easily become antichrists? Highly educated people can most easily become antichrists. Then how can the highly educated people become antichrists? By studying the Bible. The more educated a person is, the more he studies the Bible; the more he studies the Bible, the more he understands the biblical knowledge, and as soon as he understands the biblical knowledge he becomes unbearably arrogant. It is as if he were God, as if he knew everything about God, understood everything about God, understood all of God’s words and God’s work, as if he could represent God, he could throw his weight around, whatever he says should go; is this not an antichrist? So in the religious world, the more people can explain the Bible, the more they are the antichrists; the more they explain the Bible, the more they are the deceivers; how is this conclusion? Is it easy to accept? Why do people dare to explain the Bible? It is because of their arrogance. He who is arrogant and conceited thinks he understands everything, so he dares to explain; he even dares to explain God’s words, and there are no words of God that he doesn’t dare to explain, so he is an antichrist. Who do you think is the antichrist? Whoever dares to explain the Bible is an antichrist. The more someone explains the Bible, the bigger the antichrist he is; the less he explains the Bible, the smaller the antichrist he is. If he doesn’t explain the Bible, he is not an antichrist, he is at most a wicked person. Whoever writes books on explaining the Bible, the more his books pile up, the bigger the antichrist he is; he is the chief antichrist. Because of arrogance, people dare to do anything, and have not one bit of reverence in their heart for God. When they are arrogant, they even dare to explain the word of God, as if they understood everything; does this kind of person have even a bit of reverence for God in their heart?

from “Only Those Who Fear God and Shun Evil Are the Saved People (2)” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (IX)

Although the antichrists seem to overtly communicate God’s words, communicate the knowledge and experience of the truth, it does not mean that they have the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit does not work on them. But they can steal words from others, words that show experience and understanding, and use these words to adorn themselves. They can use words that resemble understanding of the truth and usurp these words as their own to deceive people. When people hear these words, they think, “Well, what this person says is right and good. He really has the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit.” People will adore him. In fact, these are all stolen from others. Tell me, does corrupt mankind have these tricks? Corrupt mankind knows how to steal, how to feign, how to disguise. Stealing someone else’s words is just too easy. After listening to someone else’s fellowshiping, they secretly write down the most powerful and best words, and parroted them several times until they memorize them, and then they go to communicate with others. Sometimes they listen in one location and speak in another location. All so fast, they make it their own in an instant. People are capable of this. That is common knowledge. Since the antichrists are on the wrong track, they do not have the work of the Holy Spirit. So it is impossible for them to have a real understanding of God’s word and the truth. But when an antichrist communicates some words that are admirable, everybody thinks, “Wow, isn’t this the work of the Holy Spirit? Otherwise, how can he have such an understanding of God’s words and the truth?” Actually, you are wrong because such words can be stolen. He can mimic the words of others. Nowadays, there are many religious pastors who take the words of God and the fellowship of the house of God. After reading them, they preach them as their own sermon to believers on Sundays. When people hear them, they think, “Oh, this sermon is so well spoken. There is really the truth in it.” Then they all donate enthusiastically. You see, their livelihood is now guaranteed. Are there many preachers like that in the religious world? When you show them the true way, they don’t accept it. But they stealthily exploit the spiritual books they took from the house of God and use them for preaching. For what purpose? They use them to make money, deceive people and exalt themselves. They take what was originally God’s words and claim they are their own experience and knowledge. This is the despicable way of the antichrists to deceive others.

from “How to Discern the Deception of a False Christ and an Antichrist” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (II)

You see those people from every sect and denomination who have no knowledge of God but who want others to treat them as if they were God, they want everyone to obey them, to listen to them, and to worship them. Only then will they be happy and satisfied. What’s the deal with them? Are these people bearing witness to God? They are bearing witness to and exalting themselves. They raise a banner that says they bear witness to God, but they are exalting themselves and showing themselves off. They show off that they understand the Bible and that they know God, and they laud themselves as servants of God, as people put in important positions by God. They want everyone to follow them, until God eventually becomes just a mere figurehead, so that everyone has to listen to them. How is this not being an antichrist? So, everything that leaders in the religious community do is just like the shady business carried out by antichrists, and the path they walk on is just the same as the path of antichrists….

from “The Relationship Between Doing One’s Duty and Being Saved” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (V)