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Studies in the Book of Revelation
BOOK 5 - ANTI-CHRIST AND THE LAMB OF GOD (REVELATION 13:1 - 16:21)
PART 5.1 - SUPPLEMENT: BIBLE PROPHECIES ABOUT THE APPEARANCE OF ANTI-CHRIST
3. Distinguishing the Spirits According to John (John 5:41-44; 8:38-45; 1 John 2:18-25; 4:1-4)The young apostle John mentions in his gospel from the teachings of Jesus about anti-Christ a sentence which was judged by the fathers of the early Christendom to be a hint that the proud son of Satan will come from the children of Jacob (John 5:43). Jesus said in the context of this passage: JOHN 5:41-44 The Semitic peoples have difficulties to utter and accept the name of God the Father; they rather prefer a mighty dictator, who will come in his own name, to a gracious father and his gentle Lamb. In chapter eight of the gospel of John it is reported what Jesus said about this subject: JOHN 8:38-45 With these words Jesus reveals the root of every anti-Christian opposition! After John as patriarch of the churches in Asia Minor in his pastoral work had suffered from the conflict with the Hellenistic zeitgeist and the embitterment of Jewish refugees, he testified in his first epistle out of his own experience the eternally valid criterion for discerning godly and satanic spirits: 1 JOHN 2:18-25 This exhortation of the experienced pastor John defines an unequivocal standard for spiritual judging of all religions and philosophies, church doctrines and sects. The Holy Spirit inspired John so as to discern who may be bound to an anti-Christian spirit. We have to turn away from the unbiblical standard of the humanism and of the Enlightenment so as to discover the truths of the Bible anew. Likewise in his first epistle John deepens his statements further: 1 JOHN 4:1-4 Whoever denies God Father and Jesus Christ, his Son, he has strayed from the faith of the New Testament and does not speak in the power of the gospel. The incarnation of Christ in Jesus, Son of Maria, is the crucial point of the true faith. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, fights against the true Christ. PRAYER: We worship and magnify You, Heavenly Father, because You are the faithful, merciful Father of the followers of Your Christ, who teaches us why some of our friends cannot understand the blessed gospel. Help us, so that we can hold fast to Your spiritual fatherhood of Christ and of us, and testify prudently to the sonship of Mary's Son with You that we may not fall prey to Anti-Christ. QUESTIONS:
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