Chapter Index

Introduction

The Global Church

Test The Spirits

Ye Are The Temple

Many Antichrists

Giving Place To The Devil

The Big Picture

Introduction

II. Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

The apostle Paul warned that in the last days, "perilous times" would come. Unfortunately, the average Christian has no idea just how dangerous these last days really are. When Paul said perilous times will come, he was talking about a time of extreme spiritual jeopardy, for he was already living in spiritually dangerous times when he wrote those words.

Just look at the condition of the churches in his day. The church at Rome was falling prey to both legalism and antinomianism. The church at Corinth was abusing spiritual gifts, dividing into sects, allowing blatant sin in their midst and accepting false apostles. The Galatian church was succumbing to legalism. The church at Thessalonica had false teachers ministering to the people.

The book of Revelation reveals the work of Satan in the congregations of Asia Minor. There were those in the church of Pergamos who were teaching the doctrine of Balaam. The church of Thyatyra was allowing a false prophetess to teach Christians to commit fornication. The congregation at Sardis had almost completely died spiritually without even realizing it! The church at Laodicea was on the verge of being vomited out of Christ because of their condition.

Look at the warnings given by the apostles. Peter talks about false teachers who had already come into the churches, promoting a false liberty to sin. John warned about the spirit of Antichrist that was already at work in the churches. Jude exposed those who had already come into the churches and were turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. These believers were facing perilous times themselves, yet the apostles spoke of a time that would be so dangerous, it would make what they were going through look like child's play.

One of the hardest things to do right now is to get God's people to understand the gravity of the situation. The Scripture teaches over and over again that in the last days, genuine believers will be overcome by Satan—yet so few pay any attention to these warnings because they simply refuse to believe God would let anything really bad happen to them. Listen to the warning of Jesus.

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.

Matthew 24:24‑25

Of course the average Christian immediately shrugs this warning off because they think it's impossible for "the elect" to be deceived. The spin that's put on this verse by preachers is that when Jesus said: "if it were possible"—He's was really saying it's not possible. Excuse me? If it's not possible for the elect to be deceived, why would Jesus bother warning the elect not to be deceived?

When the Lord said: "insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect"—He was not saying it's impossible to deceive us. He was saying the deception we will be facing in the last days will be so powerful, if we can be deceived we will be. That is, if we are not watching and praying, if we are not constantly on guard, if we are not dead serious about finding and obeying God's will, then even we (the very elect) could be deceived.

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many [Christians]. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many [Christians] shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Matthew 24:4‑13

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some [Christians] shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.

I. Timothy 4:1‑2

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they [Christians] will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they [Christians] shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

II. Timothy 4:2‑4

We have inserted the word "Christians" in the above Scriptures because when most people read these verses they assume the ones Jesus and Paul are referring to are unbelievers and pagans. But they're not! Both Jesus and Paul saw by the Spirit that in the last days the Christian faith would become so perverted, this would be the spiritual condition of many who claim to be "born again". This will be the spiritual condition of those in the churches.

They will be involved in all kinds of "iniquity" because they will think it's okay to do so, since they have been saved by grace. As a result, their love for God will "wax cold". Their cold hearts can then be seduced by demon spirits and the doctrines of devils. As a result, they will "depart" from the true Christian faith. They will "turn away their ears from the truth" and follow their own lusts. They will also "heap to themselves teachers" who tell them exactly what they want to hear. Friends, if this is not a picture of what's happening right now, then nothing is! Both Jesus and Paul paint a gloomy picture of the last days—as do the apostle John and the prophet Daniel.

I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom...And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

Daniel 7:22, 24, 25

And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

Revelation 13:5‑7

Please notice that in both these passages the ones who are being worn out and overcome by Antichrist are called "saints". Daniel and John are not talking about pseudo-Christians, or cultural Christians, or those merely making a "profession" of faith. They are talking about God's people. They are talking about genuine believers—the saints. From now until the return of the Lord, the Scripture predicts and teaches that the saints will begin to lose the spiritual war that has been declared upon them by Satan. It says that everywhere we turn it will look like Satan is winning because he in fact will be winning!

Acknowledging the reality of the situation we now face does not mean we have adopted a "defeatist" point of view. Just the opposite is true. It's a positive view because it will produce in us a spiritual soberness and a determination that will protect us. It will keep us on guard 24 hours a day—and that will keep us from becoming one of the saints who are overcome by Antichrist. Some months back, brother David Wilkerson put out a message which says much the same thing. He wrote:

"In all my years of ministry, I've never seen so many believers under such affliction. There has never been a time like this, with families facing financial crises, enduring marital struggles, despairing over children in rebellion. Right now, pastors all over the world are becoming disillusioned. They're exhausted by their labors and heavyhearted because they see so little fruit. And their wives and families are being overwhelmed. These men are quitting by the hundreds in every nation...

...As I look around at what's happening in our country, it can't be denied. The devil has spewed out of his mouth a flood of iniquity. He has brought forth a flood of afflictions against God's people. And many are being carried away in that flood. Both in Daniel and Revelation we're warned about this last hour of gross darkness, which will cover the whole earth. And for a short season, it will look as if Satan is winning on all fronts...

...Most tragic of all, Satan seems to have brought down the church in defeat. He has cast a spirit of death over God's house, so that multitudes cry, 'I can't find a church where the Spirit is at work. Everywhere I look, there's no fire, no conviction. It's dead.' You may say, 'Brother Dave, you make it sound so bleak. It's all so discouraging.' But the truth is, Satan has been given only a short time. That's why he's bringing forth everything of hell he possibly can."

Times Square Pulpit Series

September 2004

The only reason Satan is able to win for a short season is because God is allowing him to win. The Serpent isn't putting one over on God. The Lord knew exactly what would happen in the last days, long before the earth was even created. He knew what would happen and He told us plainly in His Word what would happen. The question is: Is anybody listening?

Daniel said the saints will be given into Antichrist's hand. Given into his hand by who? By God! God is the one who gives (some of) "the saints" into Antichrist's hand. Why would God do such a thing? Why would He give His own people into the hand of the enemy? As we read further on in the book of Daniel, we see why God gives some of the saints into the hand of the little horn.

Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land. It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was brought low. Because of rebellion, the host [of the saints] and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground. Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, "How long will it take for the vision to be fulfilled‑‑the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, and the surrender of the sanctuary and of the host that will be trampled underfoot?" He said to me, "It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated."

NIV Daniel 8:9‑14

Because of our rebellion—that's why God gives some of us into the hand of the enemy. Because of our refusal to obey the clearly stated commandments of Jesus and the apostles. Because of our arrogant refusal to take the warnings of the Scripture seriously. Because we ignore the inner checkings, promptings and conviction of the Holy Spirit, as He tries to lead us away from the things that will eventually entangle us in Satan's deadly web. Some will brush Daniel's warning aside because they assume this vision has already been fulfilled. If you are one of these, please note what the angel says to Daniel when he begins to interpret that vision:

While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there before me stood one who looked like a man. And I heard a man's voice from the Ulai calling, "Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision." As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate. "Son of man," he said to me, "understand that the vision concerns the time of the end." While he was speaking to me, I was in a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. Then he touched me and raised me to my feet. He said: 'I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end.

NIV Daniel 8:15‑19

The angel specifies that the vision concerns "the time of the end". Again, a second time, he says the vision will come to pass at "the appointed time of the end". Just how many times of "the end" do you suppose there are on God's calender? There should be no doubt that when Daniel saw the saints being overcome, he was looking at events pertaining to our day.

The Scripture gives a uniform testimony regarding the dangers we face in this hour. Passage after passage warns that the last days will be an extremely dangerous period of time. It exhorts us to be sober, to be constantly on guard against the powerful deceptions that are now being unleashed upon us. And it predicts that many of us will be deceived and overcome. If we choose to ignore these warnings, if we choose instead to walk in presumption and carelessness, we are in fact choosing rebellion against God's truth and we are in danger of being given into the hands of Antichrist by Him.

We have said this before, but it bears repeating—when Paul talked about the great falling away, he was not saying we will forsake our religion and return to our former pagan lifestyles. He was saying we will be deceived. We will fall from true spirituality to a counterfeit spirituality. He was saying we will fall from true worship to a sensual counterfeit; from true ministry to a signs&wonders counterfeit; from true prayer and intercession to a Spiritual Warfare type counterfeit; from true evangelism to a globalist/dominion counterfeit. He was saying that many of us will, through deception, abandon the true Spirit of God and embrace a powerful counterfeit who comes in the name of God.

Unfortunately, because we have been fed a steady diet of Grace, Eternal Security and Pre-tribulation Rapture for the past 100 years, the vast majority of today's believers are living in rebellion. Moreover, they are presumptuous and unteachable. When you tell them obedience to God is not an option if you want to remain secure in Christ, they cry "salvation by works". When you tell them they must take up their personal cross and deny their flesh if they want to overcome Satan, they cry "legalism". When you warn them about getting entangled with the spirit of Antichrist, they say a Christian can't have a demon.

Thus, we have a situation right now where multitudes of believers have been deceived and are now following a counterfeit spirit. This counterfeit spirit is what we are trying to expose in this series. The extent to which this spirit has infiltrated the Church and deceived God's people is truly frightening. Not only has it deceived a staggering number of fellowships, it is producing new "Christian" ministries, movements and organizations almost every day.

Friends, we are now living in the "evil day" Paul talked about (Eph.6:13), and many of us are being devoured by the enemy because we refuse to believe the evil day is evil enough to destroy us.

Brother Daniel

The Global Church

And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

Revelation 18:1-5

In Revelation chapter 17, the apostle John is shown the destruction of the Harlot (Babylon the Great) who rides the Beast. Then, in Revelation chapter 18, the vision doubles back to a time prior to that destruction. While there are many things we do not understand about how all these events fit together or how they will play out, there are a few points that are crystal clear.

First, we can see that in the days preceding the destruction of Babylon, many of God's people will still be involved with her, for a messenger is sent to call them out. Please note that the angel is not calling the Mormons or the Moonies or the Jehovah's Witnesses out of Babylon. Nor is He calling those who merely "profess" to be Christians out. He is calling genuine believers out, for He specifically refers to them as "my people."

Secondly, it should be obvious that if God has to call them out of Babylon, either they do not realize they are part of Babylon, or else they don't see anything wrong with being part of Babylon. In other words, they are walking in a certain degree of deception. Otherwise they would have already come out of that thing which God hates, and which He is about to destroy.

Thirdly, there is a warning against ignoring the call to come out. If we ignore the call, we will "partake of her sins and receive of her plagues" when she is destroyed. This is a fearful warning. The angel is telling us that if we do not stop participating in the things of Babylon, the day will come when God treats us like His enemy. We will find that He is pouring out His wrath upon us as well as upon Babylon.

Fourthly, we can see that whatever Babylon represents, at this point it has become "the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird".

As was stated in the beginning of this series, we believe the Scripture portrays Babylon (the woman riding the beast) as a Global Church that is riding on the back of a secular, one-world Global Government (the beast with ten horns). The Global Government will use the Global Church to get what it wants. Once it has what it wants it will turn on her and destroy her with fire. We believe this is the meaning of what John is shown in the previous chapter.

And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

Revelation 17:15‑16

The more involved a fellowship becomes in building the Global Church, the more it becomes "the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird" because it is opening the door to the powerful religious spirits that birthed Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and every false religion since the dawn of time.

It doesn't take a great deal of prophetic insight to see that in the near future, Religious Babylon will become a visible institution. Right now there are various organizations which are trying to become the head of the Global Church. Some of the more prominent ones are:

- The United Religious Initiative

- The World Assembly Of Religion & Peace

- The World Council of Religious Leaders

- The World Parliament Of Religions

- The World Council Of Churches

- The Roman Catholic Organization

Regardless of which of these organizations ends up being the official head of Religious Babylon, it will no doubt function as an umbrella organization that allows other religions and religious entities to maintain their own particular identity to a certain degree. However, the end result will be that every religious group on the planet, large and small alike, will come under its ecclesiastical and political authority.

While it doesn't take a great deal of insight to see that Religious Babylon will soon become a visible institution made up of every religion on the planet, it does require a little bit of insight to see that the same "spirit" which is behind all these apostate organizations is also operating unhindered in the Church. It does take some insight to realize that this same "spirit" is causing millions of Protestant believers to compromise the gospel and unite with the Roman Catholic organization.

For an example of this, we need not look any further than the ECT (Evangelicals & Catholics Together) document. This accord, which was revealed as a fait accompli on March 29, 1994, was the most significant event in nearly 500 years of Church history, yet many of us never even noticed it.

On that fateful day, leading American Evangelicals and Catholics signed a joint declaration entitled: "Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the 3rd Millennium." The document in effect overturned the Reformation and paved the way for the Protestant Church to eventually be subsumed by the Roman Catholic Organization.

The ECT document was the culmination of careful planning and negotiations over the previous two years. And while each step was continuously monitored and approved by the Vatican, Protestant leaders who were not involved with the project knew nothing about it until the day it was unveiled. The New York Times was one of the first papers to make the announcement. It said, in part:

"They toiled together in the movements against abortion and pornography, and now leading Catholics and evangelicals are asking their flocks for a remarkable leap of faith: to finally accept each other as Christians. In what's being called a historic declaration, evangelicals including Pat Robertson and Charles Colson joined with conservative Roman Catholics leaders today in upholding the ties of faith that bind the nation's largest and most politically active religious groups. They urged Catholics and evangelicals...to stop aggressive proselytization of each other's flocks."

John White, president of Geneva College and former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, said the statement represents a "triumphalistic moment in American religious life after centuries of distrust." Other Evangelical endorsers included the heads of the Home Mission Board and Christian Life Commission (Southern Baptist Convention), Bill Bright (Campus Crusade for Christ) Mark Noll (Wheaton University), Os Guiness and Jesse Miranda (Assemblies of God), Richard Mouw (President, Fuller Theological Seminary) J. I. Packer, Herbert Schlossberg, and other Evangelical theologians.

The 25-page document does acknowledge some differences between Catholics and Evangelicals, but the most important difference of all—what it means to be a Christian—is not even mentioned. In fact, that such a difference exists is denied. This compromise of the gospel lies at the heart of the agreement.

The key element behind the joint declaration is the previously unthinkable admission on the part of Evangelicals that active participation in the Catholic Church makes one a Christian. If that is the case, then the Reformation was a tragic and pathetic mistake. Multitudes of believers who have been murdered by Rome have all died in vain.

Ironically, the endorsers of ECT, while encouraging "Christian unity" between Protestants & Catholics, would never consider establishing any such unity between themselves and Witch Doctors, Buddhists, Hindus or Muslims. Yet, their primary partner in dialogue (Rome) is one of the main promoters of unity will all the religions of the world. Indeed, Pope John Paul II. is trying to become the head of that Global Church!

One of his most amazing feats was the gathering he called at Assisi, Italy, in 1986. One hundred and thirty leaders of the world's 12 major religions gathered under his leadership in order to pray for peace. Praying together were Snake Worshipers, Fire Worshipers, Spiritists, Animists, North American Witch Doctors, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus, as well as Protestants and Catholics. The Pope declared that they were all "praying to the same God."

The question we should be asking ourselves is this: "If we are one with him, and he is one with them, where does that leave us?"

With a little bit of discernment we can see a progression of compromise among Christians, which will eventually lead the majority of them into the One World Religion. The enemy is working at different levels simultaneously, and within different doctrinal frameworks, in order to bring us all under his power.

The first level is to establish unity between all the world’s religions and Roman Catholicism. The second level is to establish unity between all the various Protestant Denominations, and then unite them all with Rome. The third level is to establish unity between all the various independent churches, and then unite them with the Denominations. At this point the circle will be complete and everyone will be under the same "spirit". If the reader thinks such an idea is too fantastic to believe, please consider the publicly stated goal of the leader of one of the largest, well-known and well-loved "Christian" movements today—The Promise Keepers.

"Hallelujah! We're in that part of the program now, where we talk about an extraordinary hope. It's my privilege to cast a vision! We need a precise plan! Can't be a guy leave here without knowing exactly what we're going to be doing, so that the right hand will know what the left hand's doing. We have a plan!...

...Here's who we are: we are Baptists, we are Pentecostals; we are Methodists; we are Lutherans; we are Roman Catholics; we are independents—anyone who names the name of Jesus, believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God, loves Him with all his heart, and has received Him in Spirit—that's who we are! Do we agree on that?...

...And where are we going? The reason that there's momentum—and there's great optimism—is because we've been divided, and a house divided cannot stand! But now we're being reunited! And as we're reunited, we understand that this is unity with diversity! This is diversity without dissension!...Every guy must do his part! Nobody can go out of here without the same plan!...Now, how will we get to where were going? Simply stated, it works like this: every man connected to a church; every church connected to each other...

...Now the pastor, we are asking you to connect with the other pastors in the community! We're asking you to meet once a week—and not to compromise this! We're asking you to come together in prayer with the other pastors in the community! And as you cry out to God and hear God's heart for that community, we want you to share the burdens of the community!...Not only that pastor, we need you preaching, teaching, living and modeling racial reconciliation and denominational reconciliation! There's tremendous fevor in your heart for all the Body of Christ! And so it breathes from your heart! We need every pastor to breathe that through the men!...

...Promise Keepers is sponsoring nine pastors' conferences—they're one day—it's not overnight. It's in early January—early 1998 in January, February and March. It should show up on the overhead. These conferences will last one day; be sure that your Pastors participate! The reason they have to come and we need them there is we need a unity of command! We need to have everybody on the same page!"

Bill McCartney

Stand in the Gap Rally

Washington D.C. 1997

What kind of Christian could listen to words like: "...every man connected to a church; every church connected to each other", or "...we need you preaching...denominational reconciliation", and not be alarmed? What kind of Christian could listen to this stuff and walk away thinking it's great? The answer is: a deceived Christian; a Christian who has come under the influence of the same spirit that's building the Global Church.

In the beginning, many people (including Pastors) became involved with Promise Keepers because of the encouragement they offered for men to take the role of leadership in their homes, churches and communities. There was no publicly stated goal of mobilizing not only the men, but the pastors and their churches as well, to fulfill some great end-time "plan"—all of which would be under the leadership of Promise Keepers, of course. Still, there were enough signs, even at the beginning of this movement, that should have made red flags go up all over the place. But most people didn't want to hear the truth.

One of those flags was that Mr. McCartney was a lifetime devout Roman Catholic who attended Mass daily until he visited the Boulder Vineyard Fellowship. Though he liked the pastor's preaching and began attending this church, he never renounced his Roman Catholic beliefs or Rome's false gospel. He merely added the views and experiences of the Vineyard church to his own.

Not only has he never officially or publicly broken with the Catholic Church, he has hired practicing Catholics as staff members and had Catholic Priests as featured speakers at PK rallies. Four years after founding Promise Keepers, in an interview with a Catholic magazine, Mr. McCartney admitted that full Catholic participation in the movement was his intention from the beginning.

"Back in 1992, at our first stadium event, we very clearly stated from the podium that we eagerly welcomed the participation of Roman Catholics, and we’ve had scores of Roman Catholics attend and go back to their churches excited”

Our Sunday Visitor

July 20, 1997; p. 10

Here we have Mr. McCartney boasting that he made his intention to include practicing Catholics in the Promise Keepers Movement very clear at the very first PK rally! Did anybody actually hear what he said that day? Did anybody understand? Did anybody care?

When PK supporters are confronted with this fact, they immediately start making excuses. They say the reason Mr. McCartney wants Catholics to attend PK rallies is so they will hear the true gospel and be delivered from the false gospel of Rome. But that's not what he said. He was in fact bragging about the fact that "scores of Roman Catholics" had attended his rallies and had gone back to their churches, not converted but "excited". They were excited because they found a new way to express their false religion.

The following excerpt is from a 2001 telephone interview between Mr. McCartney and Richard Scheinin of Knight Ridder News Service:

Richard: What parts of your Catholic upbringing do you hold onto?

McCartney: I know many Catholics love God with all their heart. I have genuine respect for anyone who truly has given their life to Christ.

Richard: Do you see yourself as having been 'converted' from Catholicism?

McCartney: I had a born-again experience at the age of 33. And as a result of that I found a church to fellowship in where I felt I was being fed properly. I don’t say that as a reflection on Catholicism. But once I was born again, I got an evangelical spirit.

Richard: Do you consider the Catholic Church to be a legitimate Christian church?

McCartney: Of course.

Now we can understand why Mr. McCartney has never renounced Roman Catholicism—he doesn't see any need to because he believes it's just another Christian denomination. When this fact is combined with his stated goal of having every man connected to a church and every church connected to each other, an ugly picture begins to emerge.

"Did you know that there are more than three hundred thousand churches in this country that name the name of Jesus Christ? We are calling—we believe that God has given us a mandate to call those churches together".

Vision 2000 Pastors' Conference

Portland, Oregon — March 10,1998

From the very beginning, the goal of this movement was not just to unite all churches with each other, but also, to unite them all to Rome. Once you understand the real goal of Promise Keepers, it's hard to understand how so many people who claim to be born again and filled with the Spirit can be part of such a movement. The unpleasant truth is that even though most of those who are involved in the PK Movement are genuine believers, they have been seduced by the same spirit that seduced the endorsers of ECT document. They have been seduced by the spirit that's building the Global Church.

When we think of a One World Religion, we tend to think of a Religious Entity that is forcing the whole world to believe the same exact thing, doctrinally speaking. But that is not the way it will be. The unity that will bind all these diverse (even opposing) religious groups together will be based on (humanistic) love, tolerance and the lowest common religious denominator.

For example, Evangelicals and Catholics will never believe the same thing. If unity between them depended upon that, it would never happen. Rather, unity has been made possible by ignoring the doctrinal issues that are irreconcilable. They have resorted to the lowest common denominator between the two faiths. In other words, they searched until they found some "common ground". It's this common ground that opened the way for unity. The object is not to get us all to believe the same thing. The object is to get us to accept all religious views as equally valid. You can believe whatever you want to believe, just as long as you don't say your way is the only valid way to God. The new religious order is: "Unity in Diversity".

The thing that is producing the Global Church is the religious confusion which comes as a result of being under the influence of the spirit of Antichrist. Therefore, all that's necessary in order to be part of Babylon spiritually is that we be under the influence of that confusion. We don't have to go worship at a Catholic church or a Hindu shrine or a Buddhist temple in order to become part of the Global Church. All we have to do is accept as true the unscriptural teachings, viewpoints or experiences that are producing this Global Church. If we are under the influence of any of these things, we are part of Babylon; we are under the influence of the spirit of Antichrist, even if we live alone in the middle of the wilderness.

The spirit that is uniting all the world's religions, and which causes the Pope to say all religions come from God, and which causes Protestants to accept Catholics as true believers, is the same spirit that teaches Christians they should "never judge" anything or anyone. It's the same spirit that tells us we should never "separate" from others who claim to be Christians. It's the same spirit that has flooded our churches with all kinds of false doctrines and counterfeit religious experiences.

The spirit that's behind today's Ecumenical Movement is the same spirit that's behind the Restoration/Kingdom Dominion stream, Toronto/Brownsville (the supposed end-time revival that's spreading around the globe), the Word of Faith/Prosperity gospel, various Latter Rain/Manifest Sons of God groups, radical World Evangelistic groups, Spiritual Warfare and Intercessor groups, Cell-churches, Mega-churches and Seeker-sensitive churches, the Lighthouse Movement, Promise Keepers, March for Jesus, the Prophetic and Apostolic movements, Praise and Worship Seminars, Cleansing Stream, the Alpha Course, and others too numerous to list.

Indeed, you will have to search far and wide to find a church that is not involved in some way with the spirit of Antichrist. If you are part of a church that is involved in any of the aforementioned errors or movements, it will be impossible to remain untouched by that spirit indefinitely. Sooner or later you will come under it's influence and power. Thus, it behooves each and every one of us to take a good look at those we are involved with and discern by the Spirit whether or not they are involved in the building of Babylon. If they are, then be assured that God is calling you to separate yourself from those people or that group.

Test The Spirits

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

I. John 4:1

As God's people, it is our duty to judge between right and wrong, between good and evil, between true and false doctrine, and between true and false ministers. Jesus told us to judge "righteous" judgment (John 7:24). Paul told us to judge all things and hold fast to that which is good (I. Thess. 5:1). John told us not to just believe every spirit that stands behind a church pulpit, but discern whether or not they be of God.

Only Satan would tell us we must never judge anyone or anything. The need for spiritual discernment among God's people has never been greater, for many false ministers are operating inside the Church today. Those who refuse to "judge" the teachings of religious leaders are walking blindly into deception.

Isaiah said: "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isa. 8:20). The "they" in this passage is a reference to anybody who claims to be speaking for God. The law and the testimony is a reference to the Old Testament. In other words, God told the people of Israel to judge what their religious leaders were teaching by whether or not they were speaking in accordance with the Scripture.

If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,

I. Timothy 6:3‑4

True ministers of God are commanded to preach and teach "the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the doctrine which is according to godliness." They are to be teaching things that are in accordance with the Scripture. If any man "teach otherwise", said Paul, he is proud and knows nothing and we should avoid him. Consider carefully, dear reader, the instruction of the Lord's apostles regarding those who teach false doctrine. We are to:

MARK THEM AND AVOID THEM "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them." Romans 16:17

SEPARATE OURSELVES FROM THEM "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you," II. Corinthians 6:17

REBUKe THEM "...rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith." Titus 1:13

REJECT THEM "A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject;" Titus 3:10

WITHDRAW FROm THEM "...we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us." II. Thessalonians 3:6

REPROVE THEM "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." Ephesians 5:11

TURN AWAY FROM THEM "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." II. 2 Timothy 3:5

HAVE NO COMPANY WITH THEM "And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed." II. Thessalonians 3:14

RECEIVE THEM NOT "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." II. John 1:10-11

These are not quaint little sayings we can reject or accept as we please. They are commandments of God! They were spoken by the Holy Spirit, through the Lord's apostles, and they were given for our spiritual protection. They are meant to protect us from the "strong delusion" of the last days. If we ignore that protection, if we disregard these commands and choose to believe today's deluded preachers who tell us it is God's will that we all unite regardless of what we believe, and that the Devil can't really hurt us because God loves us so much He would never allow him to hurt us, then we have no one but ourselves to blame if we end up in the arms of Antichrist.

For an example of just how easy it is to be overcome as a result of refusing God's protection, we need look no further than the famous Bible/Prophecy teacher, Jack Van Impe. Mr. Van Impe has become a strong apologist for the Catholic Church. He tells how God set him free from his formerly "bigoted" and "separatist" mentality.

"For years I was very bigoted and I knew every separatist text there was. Romans 16:17, 'Avoid them,' 2 Corinthians 6:14, 'Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers,' 2 John, verse 8, 'If there comes any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God's speed.' And I attacked many wonderful Christians, many wonderful Catholic Christians, and those in other groups. But about 15, 16 years ago, the Holy Spirit broke my heart to show me how wrong this all was, that all Christians from all denominations, including our wonderful Catholic brothers and sisters are members of that one body, for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, 1 Corinthians 5:13; that we're all members of the bride of Christ, Revelation 19:7; and our God is not a polygamist, having two brides, two wives, Catholics and Protestants, but we are one.

And I saw Psalm 133:1, 'Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.' And I saw the prayer of Jesus in John 17:21 where He said, 'Father, I will that they all might be one, that the world might believe that You sent Me.' And I saw the command of God in Ephesians 4:3-6, where it says we are to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, for there is one body and one Spirit. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who's above all and through all and in you all.

God started to change me. I remember our papers in my separatist movement, how they constantly attacked Billy Graham because of his love for Catholics. One time they tore him apart, because Billy said, 'the cross on the Catholic church is the same cross that I have on my Protestant church.' And I said, 'How can Billy Graham sleep at night.' Oh, the bitterness that they heave out against this man. But that man changed me and I saw that love. And then I appreciated the Southern Baptist Convention, because Billy was one of the members of their group, and they never once objected to his proclaiming love for Catholics and all of God's children."

The Jack Van Impe Show

January 27 1999

Amazing, isn't it? Supposedly the same (Holy) Spirit that commands us to reject false teachers and heretics, broke Jack Van Impe's heart and showed him how "wrong" it was to obey those very commands. Talk about religious confusion! Mr. Impe is now following another spirit—and this is the spirit that's sweeping through our churches right now.

Why did God allow this man to be deceived? Doesn't God love him? Isn't God faithful to His children? Oh yes! God loves us and He is very faithful to us. There's no doubt that before he was overcome, God tried to warn him again and again that he was heading for trouble. But obviously he didn't heed those warnings. He made a deliberate choice to ignore the warnings and the commands of the Scripture, so God turned him over to that spirit.

Mr. Van Impe said the love he saw in Billy Graham "changed" him. In other words, he came under the influence of the same "spirit" that has influenced Billy Graham to accept Catholics as true believers. He goes on to denounce "the bitterness" that separatist (i.e., Fundamentalist) papers heave out against Billy Graham. Are these papers really heaving out bitterness? Or are they merely exposing the fact that he has compromised with Rome. Consider some of the statements Mr. Graham has made over the years:

"I am far more tolerant of other kinds of Christians than I once was. My contact with Catholic, Lutheran and other leaders—people far removed from my own Southern Baptist tradition—has helped me, hopefully, to move in the right direction. I've found that my beliefs are essentially the same as those of orthodox Roman Catholics. For instance, they believe in the Virgin Birth, and so do I. They believe in the Resurrection of Jesus and the coming judgment of God, and so do I. We only differ on some matters of later church tradition."

McCall's Magazine

January 1978

"I do believe that something happens at the baptism of an infant... we cannot fully understand the mysteries of God, but I believe that a miracle can happen in these children so that they are regenerated, that is, made Christian through infant baptism."

Lutheran Standard

October 1967

"I think people have a hard time believing God is going to allow people to burn in literal fire forever. I think the fire that is mentioned in the Bible is a burning thirst for God that can never be quenched."

The Orlando Sentinel

April 1983

"I find myself closer to Catholics than the radical Protestants. I think the Roman Catholic Church today is going through a second Reformation"

Evening Bulletin

Philadelphia, May 1966

"Pope John Paul II is one of the greatest moral and spiritual leaders of this century. He is an evangelist."

Saturday Evening Post

January - February 1980“World travel and getting to know clergy of all denominations has helped mold me into an ecumenical being. We’re separated by theology and, in some instances, culture and race, but all that means nothing to me any more”

U.S. News & World Report

December 1988

"While I most certainly believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, I do not find anywhere in the New Testament that this particular belief is necessary for personal salvation

Billy Graham Answers 26 Provocative Questions

United Church Observer – July 1, 1996

The above quotes are just the tip of the iceberg regarding Mr. Graham's compromise and apostasy. You don't have to be a prophet to realize that this man has come under the power of another spirit—the same spirit that's building the Global Church. Those who believe the Scripture and love the truth will have no problem rejecting his ministry.

Unfortunately, not only did Mr. Van Impe not reject Mr. Graham's ministry, he chose to make those same kinds of compromises because he opened himself up to that same spirit. Only God knows how many other people have come under that same spirit as a result of coming under the influence of Mr. Graham's ministry. It wasn't for no reason that Paul wrote the following words:

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you...Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

I. Corinthians 5:1-6

For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Galatians 5:6-9

The leaven of sin or false doctrine is not something to play around with because demon spirits are almost always involved. This is why Satan is busy convincing millions of unsuspecting believers that doctrine is not important. He knows very well that error is not harmless. He knows it contains spiritual power because of the involvement of evil spirits. This is precisely why John warned us to try the spirits. It's why Paul warned us about seducing spirits. It's also why Paul asked the Galatians who had bewitched them.

O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?

Galatians 3:1

The term "bewitched" reveals that there is another dimension involved in the introduction of false doctrine into a fellowship. By saying the Galatians had been bewitched, Paul was letting them know that they were doing more than accepting a mere (incorrect) human viewpoint. They were being overcome by the spiritual power that formulated that viewpoint.

This is why false doctrines are called "doctrines of demons" (I. Tim. 4:1). Seducing spirits come to us and try to wrongly divide the Scripture in our minds, or they try to impart false revelations. Once people accept them, they become vessels through which these spirits can freely operate. They go forth and spread the teachings of demon spirits among the people of God, and the same spirits that seduced them are present with them when they teach, in order to influence the minds of those who are listening.

Doctrines are not just words. Both truth and error have the power to transform us. Truth softens our hearts; leaven hardens them. Truth keeps us in the center of the purposes of God; leaven thrusts us to the outer edges of those purposes, and in some cases, takes us out of them altogether. Truth makes us receptive to what God is saying; leaven deadens our spiritual perception and weakens our ability to recognize what He is saying. At the same time, it makes us more receptive to what the counterfeit, unholy spirit is saying.

This is why Paul told us to "rightly divide" the Scripture (II. Tim. 2:15). It's why he told us to "hold fast" to the truth (II. Tim. 1:13), and speak things "which become sound doctrine" (Titus 2:1). It's why he told us to separate from those who walk in, or promote, error. We are not dealing with human beings alone. We are dealing with the spirits that make people do the things they do and believe the things they believe.

Friends, we must try the spirits—the spirits of those around us, the spirits of religious leaders, and even our own spirits—to see whether or not they be of God. If we don't, we will surely end up being part of the Global Church.

Ye Are The Temple!

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19‑22

Nearly 2000 years ago, God gave the apostle Paul a revelation of what He was doing, and he in turn, shared that revelation with the rest of the Body of Christ. God's plan is to make elect Jews and elect Gentiles "one new man" in Christ. That new man is referred to by Paul as the temple of God. Hundreds of years before Paul received his revelation, God spoke of the building of this new temple to the prophet Zechariah.

And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD.

Zechariah 6:12

The "Branch" Zechariah refers to in this prophecy is none other that the Lord Jesus Christ. God has ordained from the very beginning that He would be the one to build the true temple of God. This new temple would not be a temple of stone. Neither would it be made by the hands of man. It will be built by God Himself (Jesus), through the Spirit.

Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.

John 2:19-21

Jesus was the temple of God on earth while he was here. He manifested the glory of God among men. When people came to Him and asked for healing, help, advice, eternal life or anything else, He had the power to grant that request because He was the living temple of God on earth. He was the fullness of God dwelling in man.

Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

I. Peter 2:6

When Jesus said, "Destroy this temple", He was letting the religious leaders of Israel know (in a subtle way) that the whole idea of God dwelling in a building was changing. He was letting them know that God's ultimate goal is to dwell in man, and that God had already begun building that new temple, and that He was the first and foremost living stone of that new temple.

According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

I. Corinthians 3:10

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house [temple], an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

I. Peter 2:5

Jesus is both the Chief Corner Stone and the Foundation of God's new temple. This is precisely why Paul said: "For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (I. Cor. 3:11 NKJV). After His death and resurrection, the Lord sent His apostles out to lay the foundation of the new temple. The way they laid that foundation was by presenting Jesus to all men as their Lord and Savior. Those who accepted the gospel were brought into a relationship with God and thus became living stones in the new temple. For the past 2000 years God has been building this temple with "lively stones". When it's finally completed, He will dwell in it forever. It will be His "habitation".

This was the revelation God gave Paul. God showed him that the Tabernacle in the Wilderness and Solomon's Temple were only temporary accommodations until the real temple could start being built. Paul saw that it's the presence of God—and the presence of God alone—that makes a building or a person the temple of God, and that once His presence is gone, that thing or person is no longer His temple. He saw that God's ultimate goal has always been to have a living, breathing temple, through which He could manifest all the facets of His Divine nature in the earth—and he saw that the Body of Christ was destined to be that temple.

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

I. Corinthians 3:16

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

I. Corinthians 6:19‑20

When correcting some of the abuses that were taking place in the church at Corinth, Paul asked: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God"? The same question should be put to contemporary believers, for surely they do not realize they are the temple of God. Whenever you say, "the temple of God", they automatically think of a building in Jerusalem. But this was not the way Paul thought. The revelation God gave him was burned into his mind and heart. So you can be sure that when someone said, "the temple of God", he did not think of a literal building. He thought of the Church, for in his mind there was no other temple. We must understand this when we read his warning in Second Thessalonians.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

II. Thessalonians 2:3-4

We are the temple of God! On the Day of Pentecost the Church was born and it officially became the temple of God. At that point the Temple at Jerusalem ceased being God's temple. Never again will God dwell in a building. Never again will a building function as, or be called, the temple of God. We are the ones Antichrist wants to sit in. We are the temple he wants to defile.

People think that when Paul wrote this passage he was talking about a man entering a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. They can't see that the whole New Testament—much of which was written by Paul!—defines the temple of God over and over again as believers. Not only does Paul tell us repeatedly that we are now the temple of God, the few times he does mention the then-present Temple at Jerusalem, he never calls it the temple of God. He simply refers to it as "the temple" (Acts 22:17; 24:12&18; 25:8; 26:21; I. Cor. 9:13).

Unfortunately, because our heads are filled with the traditions of men and the doctrines of demons, we can't grasp the simple meaning of what Paul wrote. The sobering ramifications of what he said never really penetrates our understanding. Paul was telling us that in the last days, God is going to remove the restraint that’s been on Satan for over 6000 years. He is going to let Satan do things he has never been allowed to do before.

Because of the revelation Paul was given, he would never again consider any kind of building to be the temple of God. How much less would he view an edifice that was subsidized by Antichrist and built by unbelieving Jews the temple of God? Maybe the unbelieving Jews who built such a temple would call it the temple of God; maybe dumb Gentiles and Gentile Christians would call it the temple of God; but the apostle Paul would never call such an abomination the temple of God. Never! To do so would be to deny the very revelation God gave him. It would contradict everything he taught.

One of the reasons people read these verses and automatically exclude the possibility of this temple being a reference to Christians is because they don't believe it's possible for Christians to accept another spirit into their lives.

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

II. Corinthians 11:3-4

Oops! So much for the traditions of men. Paul said he was afraid that the Corinthians would be beguiled by the Serpent and "receive another spirit". If, as so many preach, it's impossible for a Christian to accept another spirit into his or her life, then Paul was terribly confused, for he explicitly states that we can receive another Jesus, another gospel, or another spirit.

Another reason people exclude the possibility of this temple being a reference to Christians is because Paul said those who allow this spirit to come "in" them will "perish". Since almost everyone believes the Eternal Security error, they automatically assume that Paul could not be talking about them. But contrary to what so many of today's preachers and teachers are telling us, Paul said quite frankly that God would "destroy" Christians who "defile" themselves. Once again: Is anybody listening?

If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

I. Corinthians 3:10-17

People are constantly trying to figure out who the Antichrist is and when he will come. The one question they never ask is: "Where is he coming"? The reason they never ask where he is coming is because they assume they already know where he will come. Since they only see him as a great political and/or religious leader, they assume that sooner or later he will come to the forefront of the political scene. But listen to where the apostle Paul said he will come:

Even him, [Antichrist] whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

II. Thessalonians 2:9-10

Paul said Antichrist is coming "in" them that receive not a love of the truth. Now a political or religious ruler can do many things, but one thing he will never be able to do is come "in" people. Only a spirit can do that. Prophecy teachers admit this (though of course they don't realize it), for they say Antichrist will be a man who is possessed and totally controlled by a spirit (Satan). They admit that it's this spiritual empowerment that will enable him to become the leader of the world. So they are admitting that a spirit will come in a human vessel. The only real difference between what they are teaching and what Paul taught is that they think this spirit is Satan himself, and that he will only come in one man. Paul said it's the spirit of Antichrist, and it will come in all "them" who reject the truth.

We are God’s temple and we all have free wills. Nobody can defile us without our co-operation. If we become defiled it is because we have chosen to allow ourselves to become defiled. We are the temple Antichrist wants to sit in. We are the temple he wants to defile. If we allow him to defile us, he will make our lives spiritually desolate and God will destroy us. This is what the prophet Daniel is talking about when he speaks about "the abomination of desolation".

And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

Daniel 12:11

Friends, we have already entered the period of time described here by Daniel. The abomination of desolation is happening right now, all over the world. Individually speaking, the abomination begins in us when we open ourselves up to the spirit of Antichrist and allow it to start operating in our lives. Once we do, it will start communicating with us in a very real way. It will start giving us revelations and visions and all manner of supernatural experiences. In short, it will begin to imitate the voice, work and presence of the Holy Spirit. If left unchecked, it will completely defile us and make us desolate.

Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Matthew 24:15‑16

Jesus said the abomination of desolation would stand in "the holy place". The Holy Place is the place of the Spirit filled life. It's the place of spiritual gifts and supernatural power. It's also the place of worship. When self-seeking, carnal, uncrucified Christians start pursuing supernatural power, they are easy targets for the enemy, for they open themselves up to all kinds of counterfeit revelations and religious experiences.

Paul said Antichrist will gain entrance to the temple of God by deceiving us with supernatural power and signs and lying wonders. Once this spirit has entered the temple, it will take its seat in us and begin to exalt itself above all that we have understood to be of God. If we do not recognize it and get delivered from it, it will eventually destroy every vestige of God's life in us.

It truly is mind-boggling when you begin to see just how much of today's Christian experience and doctrine is coming from Satan instead of from God. Brethren, we don't have to wait for a Global Church or a Global Government to be fully established and manifested in order to see the Antichrist—that spirit is being manifested in churches all across the world right now!

Many Antichrists

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time...Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

I. John 2:18 & 22

And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

I. John 4:3

It's a tragedy that while we watch ever so diligently for the rise of an individual, human Antichrist, we are being overcome by the spirit of Antichrist and we don't even know it! The only reason such a disaster can be taking place is because God's people have forsaken the Written Word. Had we not forsaken the Scripture, we would not have been tricked into watching for a man when the real threat is coming from an invisible demon spirit!

The fact that Antichrist is first and foremost a religious spirit is clearly taught by the apostle John. He says: "...every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh...is that spirit of antichrist". It's interesting to note that twice John says the believers in this fellowship were anticipating the rise of a spirit. He says: "...this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come". Again he says: "...as ye have heard that antichrist shall come". It's clear that somebody had taught these people the spirit of Antichrist would come in the last days. They were not being taught to look for the rise of an individual man or a Global Government.

When John writes to them he doesn't deny what they had been taught. He doesn't say: "Come on guys! Why are you focusing on some invisible spirit? Don't you know Antichrist is going to be a man who will be super-possessed and will become the leader of the last-days, Global Government? What's all this talk about watching for a demon spirit?"

Instead, what he says is: "Brethren, I know you have been taught to look for the rise of the spirit of Antichrist in the last time, but I want you to know you don't have to wait till the future to see this spirit. It's already rising; it's already working and deceiving multitudes of people, both in the world and in the Church. Because this is true, we know we've entered the last time".

John was teaching these believers how to recognize the spirit of Antichrist in his day. He was explaining how this spirit would manifest itself, once people were deceived by it and had come under its control. He was explaining how they would act, what they would believe, and what they would teach.

This is why he said: "...every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God". This also is why he said: "...even now are there many antichrists..." This is also why, when speaking about these many antichrists, he goes on to explain that:

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

I. John 2:19

People were flowing with the Church in John's day who had come under the power of the spirit of Antichrist. As a result, they became human antichrists and started denying the doctrine of the Incarnation. Since the majority of the saints in those particular fellowships were remaining true to the doctrine laid down by the original apostles, these human antichrists had no success in deceiving the people and eventually they decided to leave.

Not only was the spirit of Antichrist working within the true Church in John's day, it was this spirit that eventually overcame the vast majority of Christians by the Fifth Century and plunged the entire Church System—as well as all of Europe—into a period of great darkness (the Dark Ages) which would last for over a thousand years! So when we talk about the spirit of Antichrist, we are not talking about some puny little demon that doesn't have much power. We are talking about an extremely powerful and dangerous religious spirit.

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Ephesians 6:11‑12

It's important to realize what we face in this hour. When we look at what's happening in today's churches, we have a tendency to focus on the external, visible realm. We see corruption; we see a lust for money and power; we see deceit and compromise with sin; we see heresies being taught; and we see counterfeit spiritual experiences being widely accepted. All these things are simply the outward manifestation of powerful, invisible Satanic forces. The sources of all this outward evil are invisible principalities and powers—the first and foremost of which is the spirit of Antichrist.

Unfortunately, God's people today have absolutely no fear of this powerful religious spirit. One of the reasons they don't fear it is because they tend to view it within a First Century, historical context. The greatest threat to the Church in John’s day was not the external political power of Rome, but rather, the spirit of Antichrist working within the ranks of genuine believers through a small but vocal group of false believers called Gnostics. The ideas and false teachings of these Gnostics were beginning to affect God's people and this is the issue the apostle John is addressing.

The central belief of all Gnostics was that the spiritual creation is good but the material creation (including our physical bodies) is evil and worthless. Since they viewed the material creation as evil and unsalvageable, the Incarnation was an absolute impossibility in their minds. No Gnostic could ever allow that God would take upon Himself a physical body.

So John gave those believers a doctrinal test by which they could recognize the spirit of Antichrist as it manifested itself though Gnostic teachings. He never said this test would be sufficient for every situation and at all times. He was not saying Antichrist’s arsenal of deception was limited to denying the Incarnation, or that the only thing a person under its influence would ever do is deny the Incarnation. John’s test was not a general test. It was a specific test, designed to ferret out a specific group of people.

Brothers and sisters, do you know how to recognize the spirit of Antichrist today? Do you know how it manifests itself in today's churches? Do you know how to recognize those who have come under its influence? Can you discern between the true gifts of the Spirit and Satan's counterfeits? Can you discern between the true, supernatural power of God and Satan's counterfeit? Is it real to you that God has given Satan the power and the authority to counterfeit the gifts of the Spirit, the power of God, the voice of God and the presence of God in these last days? Do you realize that right now, hundreds of thousands of your brethren have been totally deceived by this hellish spirit?

We need to understand that the same spirit John fought back in his day is alive and well in our day. We need to understand that just as many ministers had come under the power of this sprit in John's day, and had thus become human antichrists, so it is in our day. Right now, many of those who are ministering in today's churches have been overcome by this spirit. As a result, they have become human antichrists—and most of them are house-hold names. Most of them are well-known and well-loved by today's Christians.

The difference between our day and John's day is that back then, God's people still cared about doctrine. They knew doctrine was important. They knew they had to "hold fast" to the doctrine they were taught by the apostles. Because of this, the antichrists of that day had no permanent platform from which to spread their heresies and they eventually left many of the assemblies.

Today's situation is just the reverse. Modern-day antichrists have found a permanent home in our assemblies because the majority of God's people couldn't care less about doctrine. Indeed, they despise and reject the whole idea of holding fast to sound doctrine, especially if doing so will hinder the unity that is being sought. Today's antichrists are winning the battle because they have won the hearts and minds of the majority of the believers in the churches. They will never leave because the people love them!

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. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

II. John 1:7-8

First, John explains that Antichrist is first and foremost a religious demon. Then he explains that anyone who comes under the influence of this demon will eventually become a human antichrist. He then tells them there are many of these human antichrists operating in the world, and that some of them are even operating inside the fellowships. He then goes on to exhort the saints in these fellowships to pay attention to what they are doing so they don’t lose the things they have gained but receive a full reward.

What would make them lose their reward? Since the subject of John is the work of Antichrist inside the Church, it's clear that when he told them to be careful not to lose the things they had gained, he was telling them to make sure they didn't come under the power of this other spirit. He was telling them that if they came under its power, they were in danger of losing their heavenly rewards.

Thus, the apostle Paul was not the only one who was afraid Satan would overcome the saints by deceiving them into accepting another spirit. John had that same fear. Indeed, that's the whole reason he wrote this epistle. He was warning them not to come under the influence of the spirit of Antichrist!

If he were to write this same epistle today and send it to the churches, Christians would just laugh at him. They would say: "What's wrong with you John? Don't you know a Christian can't have a demon? Don't you know we are saved by Grace and that Satan can't hurt us? Don't you know we are Eternally Secure and cannot lose our heavenly rewards? Besides, what's all this talk about evil spirits anyway? You know very well that Antichrist will be a political leader who enters the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and declares himself god. So don't you worry about us, John, we're doing just fine."

Brethren, we are not doing fine! The spirit of Antichrist is overcoming us by the droves. This is no game. It's a war and we are losing! Massive numbers of us are being overcome right now because we don't care about doctrine and we won't separate from those who walk under another spirit. Moreover, we continue to underestimate the power God has given to Satan in this hour.

After warning the believers in that congregation that this spirit had already come, after warning them that those who come under it's influence become human antichrists who end up losing their heavenly rewards, and after telling these brethren that many such antichrists are operating inside the church, the apostle John then names one of them.

Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say.

III. John 1:9

Just as the saints in John's day needed to learn how to recognize the spirit of Antichrist so they would not come under its influence, so we need to learn how to recognize it in our day so we do not come under its influence. Just as John named publicly those who had become human antichrists in his day, so we believe it's necessary to name publicly those who have become human antichrists in our day.

In the first four parts of this series we named many of today's ministers who have come under the influence of this spirit. Naturally, this did not set well with some folks, especially those who are following these ministers. Some of the feedback we received was very nasty and we were accused of taking cheap "pot-shots" a God's "anointed" ministers. It's a tragic situation when so many Christians think that exposing modern-day antichrists is the same as taking pot shots at fellow believers. It's a tragic situation when they are so blind they can't comprehend that not only the apostle John, but the apostle Paul as well, publicly named those who were a threat to the Church.

Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth…

II. Timothy 2:17-18

Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm…Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching.

II. Timothy 4:14

Was Paul taking pot shots at fellow believers when he named these men, or was he being faithful to God's people by warning them so they would not end up deceived? It's true that what other Christians do privately—how they live and what they believe—is none of our business. That's why the apostle Paul said: "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth" (Rom. 14:4).

However, when those same people start publicly teaching the body of Christ false doctrines, when they start publicly leading God's people into idolatry and the occult, when they start building massive religious kingdoms by deceiving the brethren, then the whole situation changes! When they become a threat to the body of Christ, then what they do and how they live and what they believe becomes our business indeed!

We need to realize that the antichrists who are operating inside our churches today are being led and empowered by an extremely dangerous religious spirit that can be easily transferred to others. We need to understand that this spirit is actively seeking to destroy every one of us and that none of us are immune to it, regardless of how spiritually mature we may think we are. We must realize that through religious deception, this spirit can gain a foothold in anyone's life and that if it does, that person is in danger of being completely overpowered and eternally destroyed by it.

Such a reality will not only sober us up in a hurry, it will instill in us a much-needed hatred for Satan because we will finally begin to perceive just how many of our brethren are being devoured by him.

Giving Place To The Devil

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

I. Peter 5:8

Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.

Ephesians 4:26‑27

The Scripture warns us to be sober and vigilant in our Christian walk because we have a personal enemy who hates us and is seeking to destroy us night and day. This enemy is invisible and has supernatural power. He can plant thoughts in our minds and wrong desires in our hearts. He is very familiar with our every weakness and sinful tendency because he is the one who planted all these things in us in the first place.

Because he is so dangerous, Paul warns us not to "give place" to him. Another way to put it is that we should be careful not to give him an opportunity to gain a foothold in our lives. In this hour of growing apostasy, we need to be even more careful than ever, for the same spirit that's producing the Global Church is seeking to gain a foothold in each and every one of our lives.

There are various ways we can open the door to this spirit. One of the most common ways a door is opened is by allowing someone who is under this spirit to lay hands on us and pray for us. Below is the testimony of a young Christian woman who opened the door to the enemy in just this way.

Testimony Of Gayle Rogers

In 1988 I left a life of sin and alcoholism, graciously delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ, and moved to San Diego. He had carried me through many years of emotional and physical abuse. I wanted to start over again and devote my life fully to Christ. So, I settled in on a new job, a church, and a place to live.

Shortly thereafter, I met a woman at work who said she had the gift of prophecy. She related this as we were walking out of the office to take a break. Grabbing her forearm, I begged with delight, 'Give me one!'

We became friends and she moved into my studio apartment as a roommate. It was a time in my life when I was very lonely. I had no close friends and it was a blessing to have a new friend that I could share things with who was a believer.

One thing that really fascinated me as a new Christian was the gifts of the Spirit. I had seen various ministers on Christian television programs speak in tongues, give words of knowledge, prophesy, and even heal people of their physical problems. I wanted God to be a part of my life like He was a part of theirs.

One TV minister would even talk about the gift of tongues being the subsequent evidence of the born-again experience. I knew I qualified for that because I already had Christ in my heart. So, I expectantly waited for His hand to move the same way in my life.

I was faithful to Christ, but I wanted to be closer to Him and didn't know quite how to get there. I had given up a long-term relationship when I came out of my old lifestyle and I needed to feel God's acceptance of me, now that it was just me and the Lord. I didn't know the real motives of my heart at the moment, or the brokenness that hid my inner battle with rejection and worthlessness. But I hoped if He would grant me the gift of His Holy Spirit, then the emptiness of my life would be filled.

My friend and I would go to services, Bible studies and activities at Assembly of God, Word of Faith and other 'Spirit-filled' churches in the area. We would get together in the evening to pray and wait upon the Lord. I looked forward to those moments with a secret hope that the Lord might have a special word just for me, through her, especially since something supernatural would happen each time.

A spirit would come over my friend as we prayed. It was a holy one, I thought. I watched the reaction as her breathing would change and get deeper. Her torso moved back and forth as she yielded to the spirit's will. Then, her hands would raise and the words would come. Beautiful words. Spiritual words. Words that spoke of the beauty of the courts of heaven. I was amazed! My friend would also see visions. There were tingling sensations in her hands as if she possessed the power to heal.

The 'Lord' we prayed to would further extend his grace by directly answering our questions. Another presence would come over us bringing a lovely, light feeling and a release of laughter from our souls. It was as if angels had come down to minister to us. This 'Lord' we were experiencing gave much personal attention and I felt privileged to be a part of it.

One evening as we were praying, she turned to me and said with assurance: 'You want to be a prophet'. I thought to myself, of course I do. Anything to show that I was accepted by God! We're supposed to desire spiritual gifts, aren't we? That's what the Bible said (or so I misinterpreted).

So, she laid her hand on my shoulder and prayed for me to receive the gift of prophecy. I echoed to the 'Lord' my willingness to receive. That's when things really began. All those incredible things I saw in her came to me. I didn't feel a thing at first, but they were there. Except the spirits that came were not from God at all. They were from Satan, spirits sent to counterfeit the true gifts of the Spirit and deceive the Church. And, I was totally unaware of it.

It took months of discovery and practice to understand exactly what this 'Lord' (who I didn't know was false) was saying through the 'gifts' that began to develop in me. What a precious thing it was to hear for the first time that still small voice the Bible talks about. I rejoiced in ignorance that I could finally hear his voice like so many Christians said they could.

Next, I gathered up the courage to start sharing with others, one on one, the messages the 'Lord' was providing. I didn't want to disappoint the 'Lord' by frustrating his mission for me and being too shy to talk about the revelations he was so profusely sharing. The voice of my 'Jesus' promised a ministry, a husband, and many glories ahead. I couldn't wait to start.

Next, my 'Jesus' began to encourage me to speak out his words in church. Being a very quiet person, this was not an easy thing to do. But he convinced me that my silence was preventing him from blessing his children, and after much self-examination, I could not in good conscience be the one to hinder God from sharing his love with his Church. I began to speak words of exhortation as led by this 'spirit' at a few Wednesday night services. People would come up to me afterward wanting to get more of the inside story of what the 'Lord' was saying.

I remember seeing a woman and her husband as I entered the church lobby one evening. She broadly smiled in recognition and said: 'Are you the one who gives words of prophecy? You are, aren't you?' I was so humbled and awed that God would entrust me with such great responsibilities among His people. But, I didn't know that my days as a prophet would be cut short.

The pastor of my church called at work and asked if I would come to his office and discuss the prophecies I had been giving. I was scared to death. When the meeting came, he respectfully acknowledged my sincerity and desire to serve the Lord, but he did not have a witness in his spirit that what I was saying was entirely from the Lord. But in the future, if I felt that the Lord was giving me a word for the church, to pass a note up during the service, and he would make an opening for me to speak if there was a confirmation in his spirit to do so. He also asked me to honor a silence of six months so I could spend time in prayer and reflection to know exactly how the Lord was leading me.

The pastor ended the meeting without an offer of specific help or interest to further examine the matter. He did mention that he had talked with the other pastors of the church about the possibility of having a class on prophecy for people who felt they were led by the Lord in this gift, but nothing ever came of it.

He eased my discomfort by saying I wasn't the only one he had spoken to in the church, but rather the fifth or sixth person that he had recently asked to suspend their public prophesying for a season of prayer and reflection.

Our meeting took less than 30 minutes. Besides the embarrassment of the meeting, I was very confused. I knew another pastor in a nearby home church who felt my prophetic gift was true and supported me in it. I remembered the times I heard the congregation gasp in awe as I spoke the words given to me. Who should I believe? My hidden desire to possess the power of spiritual gifts overruled this latest objection and no further doubt remained about what my 'Lord' had called me to do.

Things started to change after that. I started to hear voices, thoughts in my mind, other than my 'Jesus'. There was a mocking voice, a sexually perverted voice, another one threatened me and imitated voices of people I knew. I didn't know what was happening. I thought I was being attacked by Satan and his army because the 'Lord' had so gifted me for a special mission. I couldn't control their thoughts going through my mind and they were beginning to take over. I was so frightened. Week after week the battle for my mind continued. I struggled to find the voice of my 'Lord' to follow once more, but there were too many voices in my head.

In desperation I drove out to a deserted area on the edge of a canyon. Maybe if I walked in the quiet of nature I could find him again and get help. I cried out: 'Jesus, help me! Help me! Help me! What is going on? I need help, Jesus!' And for the very first time, the real Lord, the real Jesus spoke to me and said: 'I only offer you Truth'.

Not comprehending His meaning I repeated the words: 'You only offer me truth? Truth? What is the truth, Jesus? What is the truth'? Then the answer came. A wordless understanding gripped my inner being and I finally knew what the truth was. The spirit I had been listening to for the past nine months was not Jesus, was not my Lord at all, but, in fact, a demon.

I was in shock. The thought was too horrifying to face. I didn't want to consider that there were unseen adversaries, possessing intelligence and purpose, who actually could enter my personal thoughts and pretend to be the Holy Spirit or Jesus. Reading about it in the Bible and experiencing it were two different things.

Praise God, Jesus quickly overturned Satan's deception with the simplicity of Truth. He mercifully answered my cry and I am so humbled and grateful that He did. To be saved from a future of mental illness, to be abundantly forgiven for consorting with demons and representing their deceptive words and actions as the oracles of the Most High God, to be given another chance after I failed so miserably as a Christian, and to be accepted once more as His child is more grace than I could imagine. But He did it for me.

The battle since then has been a difficult one. The Lord has been patient as I work through the process of discovering the sins, the buried emotions, the concealed motives of my heart and the misuses of Scripture where the enemy has held ground in my life. Christ has led me through repentance for the sins of witchcraft, and the fleshly desire that welcomed in the false spiritual gifts. He has shown me the dark areas of my heart and the idols I have worshiped instead of Him.

There is more work to do to become pure before the Lord, but I know He is faithful to His promise and will help me along the way. I am still learning and my gratitude for His enduring salvation is more than I can express.

I testify from personal experience that demons can enter a Christian's thoughts with loving Christian words and offer spiritual-sounding exhortations. Demons know Scripture and how to use it for their purposes. Many unguarded believers are manipulated and demonized this way. They are gently guided to lead others astray with awesome spiritual feelings and manifestations, believing that Scripture is being fulfilled before their eyes.

My heart cries to the Shepherds that you might earnestly protect your flocks from these dangers and seek the counsel of those who can help. I have seen the genuine gifts in operation, but I have seen and heard a great deal more that are questionable. The balance to maintain as a faithful steward is found in the call to be sober and vigilant. His gifts of the Spirit are real and will humbly yield to the light of thorough examination.

Seek Him in prayer. He is waiting to help.

In Christ,

Gayle Rogers

Unfortunately, allowing someone who is under this spirit to lay hands on us and transfer it to us is not the only way we open ourselves up to it. Simply desiring to experience the things it offers is enough to open the door. After hearing all the wonderful testimonies of those who have given themselves to this spirit, it's easy for a young Christian to start desiring these experiences.

Below are excerpts from two testimonies of people who came under this spirit just by being in a church that was under it. The first testimony is from a woman in South Africa who asks that her last name not be published.

Testimony Of Yvette H.

In July 1995, after re-committing my life to the Lord, I experienced God’s Miraculous Healing Power twice within a single week. In the first instance, God totally delivered me from a sexually immoral lifestyle and six days later He supernaturally healed me from smoking. As you could well imagine, these experiences had a dramatic influence on my life. Within a period of six days, God turned my whole life upside down.

I had heard that God touched the lives of people in similar ways in ____ Christian Church. But, I must admit at the time I wasn’t really convinced that these ‘manifestations’ were from God. I just couldn’t believe that God would heal people in such strange ways...

...I began attending the Church’s services on a regular basis, but to my dismay, I didn’t experience the ‘anointing’ of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, I became extremely agitated when these ‘manifestations of the spirit’ were displayed during the services. Needless to say, I became somewhat concerned. When I spoke to my fellow members about this problem, I was told that it was an attack from the devil to prevent me from experiencing the presence of the Lord and that I should seriously pray about the situation. Thus began a period of serious spiritual warfare against this attack from Satan, but alas, still no manifestations.

I could not understand it. Why was God withholding His Spirit from me? What was I doing wrong? I prayed and prayed to God to fill me with His Spirit - but in vain. I continually pressed in, but nothing happened. At one stage I actually began to doubt my salvation due to the fact that I wasn’t experiencing any manifestations.

I became so totally obsessed with the manifestations that I found myself concentrating solely on trying to induce a manifestation whenever I prayed or worshipped. It was only then that I finally managed to successfully induce a manifestation. To my utter disgust, this so-called 'anointing' was a far cry from the wonderful life-changing experience which I had previously experienced when God had delivered me from an immoral lifestyle and smoking.

I noticed that for some strange reason praying and reading my Bible suddenly became virtually impossible. Furthermore, I became aware of the fact that I often felt tempted to fall back into sin in the areas where God had delivered me. I asked myself, 'why is this happening?' I was confused. Then I blamed Satan for the fact that I was unable to effectively pray and read the Bible. As for falling back into past sins, I promptly found Scriptures with which to justify why God was supposedly allowing these things to happen, but in fact I used these merely to lull my own conscience.

In the eyes of my Charismatic friend, I had made it! God was actively working in my life. I most definitely couldn’t allow anyone to know that which I had experienced as the 'manifest presence of the Lord' wasn’t everything it was made out to be. I couldn’t risk being heard speaking out against the Holy Spirit - after all, according to Matthew 12:32 and Mark 3:29, 30 - this is an unforgivable sin. I certainly wasn’t prepared to be guilty of that. And so, the masquerade began. I pretended to enjoy these experiences when in actual fact, every single time I allowed myself to experience the 'anointing', something deep inside my inner being would be pleading with me to put an end to the charade.

I was bewildered by this predicament that I found myself in. Was I the only person who felt this way? Were there others who had the same problems? Or was Satan yet again attempting to stop me from receiving God’s blessing? Yes, that had to be it. Satan had to be responsible for these doubts, as well as for the discomfort I was experiencing. Of course, the only way I knew how to counter Satan’s attacks was to engage in Spiritual Warfare. Once again I launched a serious battle against Satan. I earnestly prayed to God to remove anything and everything in my life that wasn’t from Him, as far away from me, as the North is from the South and the East is from the West. If it wasn’t from Him, I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. I thought He would take away the doubts and the discomfort.

Instead, when I prayed to God in this way, the most horrific thing happened. God took this strange 'spirit' away from me. Yet, amazingly, for the first time in many months, I was able to read my Bible without having to force myself to concentrate on what I was reading. Suddenly God’s Word once again became a reality to me, as it had done when I gave my life to the Lord. I could once again actually understand what I was reading. What’s more, I noticed that my prayer life dramatically improved and that the temptations which hounded me before had disappeared.

But, alas, as far as the Charismatics are concerned, it is only when we experience what they define as the 'presence' of the Lord (or the anointing or the outpouring of the 'spirit' as they call it) in our lives that we truly grow spiritually. In fact, according to their teachings, a so-called 'personal touch from God' is considered to be far more important than the Word preached from the pulpit.

What was I to do? I sincerely desired to become spiritually mature. So, I yet again sought the so-called anointing and before long I found myself caught up in an replay of the previously described scenario, with one small difference; I was now able to achieve the previous manifestations much easier than I had the first time round. But as I did, the battles against Satan recommenced. Surely something was wrong. Still, I was reassured by my friends that these incessant attacks were a sign that I was doing something right because Satan only attacks those who are making progress in God’s kingdom.

At first I fell for this explanation. I even thanked God for the attacks. But after a while I began to doubt whether it was true. I simply could not believe that what I was experiencing was God’s will for His children. The first subject I tackled was that of the Scriptures used to justify these so-called manifestations of the Spirit. It wasn’t too long before I realized how totally misquoted, twisted and misinterpreted these were. Should you doubt this fact, read the following Scriptures - in context: Acts 2:15, 16 and Eph 5:18 (being drunk in the "spirit"); Amos 3:8 (prophets - roaring like lions); 1 Pet. 1:8 (uncontrollable laughter) and Acts 9:6 (shaking in the Spirit).

Don’t just skim over them because you believe you know them. Read them carefully. Sincerely pray that God will reveal the content through His Holy Spirit. Should you still believe that they do justify the so-called manifestations, and that these are of God, then read the following Scriptures carefully: I Cor. 12:7-11 (Manifestations of the Spirit); Gal. 5:22-24 (Fruit of the Spirit); Romans 12:6-8 (Gifts of the Spirit). In fact, perhaps you should also study Luke 4:33 and Luke 9:42 (Demon spirits).

I also had believed that what I was taught was Biblical and it took some time for my to fully comprehend the truth. The reason for this is described clearly in Isaiah 5:9 and Matthew 13:13. Christians hear these Scriptures quoted so often, they actually no longer hear their true contents. They only hear what they are taught to hear. Even when reading these Scriptures they do not see what they are reading.

God has shown me that what is happening in many churches is that the truth is being traded for a lie. The danger lies in the fact that when a lie is believed for long enough it becomes the truth to those being exposed to it. God helped me to see that what I perceived as being the Holy Spirit was actually a deceiving spirit; and what I perceived as being a deceiving spirit was in actual fact the Holy Spirit.

Your friend in Christ,

Yvette H.

Testimony Of David Mathieu

This is concerning my personal experience with the evil spirit, the spirit of the adversary, '... who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing that he is God' (II. Thess 2:4).

I was invited by a friend to visit the 'church' of Benny Hinn in Orlando. Since the 'church' was full, I attended the service in the overflow room, which was also crowded, where there was a big screen TV and some good loud speakers.

In the middle of the service, while this great orchestra with the choir and the assembly of God's people were singing worship songs, Benny Hinn asked everybody to stand up and to lift up our hands, because the spirit is about to fall. A couple minutes after I did so, my hands started to shake and very soon all my body was trembling vigorously. The best way to describe it is, I was like a tree 'shaken of a mighty wind'.

Inside the 'church' many sick people testified that they were healed, and hundreds felt the manifestation of the spirit. I was very glad. I told myself I had received the Holy Spirit, even though I knew what Jesus Christ said in Mark 13:21-22 and Matthew 24: 24-25:

'For false christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.'

I am still a Christian. Jesus Christ gave me victory over my sins, changed my life completely and set me free. I am very grateful for Calvary. I would never willingly forsake the Prince of Peace for the powers of darkness. Yet I could not believe that the spirit of the Serpent could dwell in me that easily.

Since I did have a demon spirit inside of me, any time I started to pray, in a matter of seconds that spirit would come, taking control little by little over my body. The manifestations were so strong, that I think even if I was crippled, at those moments the spirit could make me move and walk, for my body was doing all kinds of motions that I did not know it could even do, with astonishing strength and at surprising speeds. I went back to Orlando Christian Center four other times and only once the spirit did not fall upon me.

One day, while I was at home playing a Benny Hinn worship CD, called 'Fill this Temple', the spirit fell once more upon me very strong. Soon my hands were flapping vigorously like bird's wings. I played more songs from other Christian artists and the spirit was enjoying them. It was making me dance slowly. An idea came to my mind, and I decided then to test the spirit.

While I was on my knees, at the end of a song, I swiftly changed the CD and played a non Christian song, a popular dancing song with a fast rhythm. The spirit was very glad, and was making me dance in a very sexy manner with my hips. Now I had no more doubts. I clearly realized the spirit that had come into my life was in fact, the spirit of the Antichrist, spoken of in the book of First John.

Knowing that I had received an evil spirit in Benny Hinn's 'church' was one thing; getting rid of that spirit or spirits was quite another thing. How could I ask Christians to pray to set me free of a spirit they believe to be the Holy Spirit? I ate the fruit of Benny Hinn's 'tree' and was deceived by the Serpent. It's fruit is bitter as wormwood and produces nothing but death. I lived many days under the power of the enemy. I was tormented by dead people's souls. My sleep was haunted with foul nightmares and my body was filled with unclean spirits.

So there I was, alone against those demonic powers, with the knowledge that many churches have already been defeated. Even then my hope was in Christ. I did not panic. I was sure He would not forsake me. So I did what He said should be done in those cases. I fasted and I prayed.

Since then, the manifestations of the spirit or spirits ceased. By the grace of God, until now the hordes of hell have not overcome me. But I know I have been marked. My soul was stained by the powers of darkness. I am waiting for the day where my 'robe' will be made 'white' in the Blood of the Lamb.

My nightmares have greatly diminished. The Lord is restoring my spiritual health. He is setting me free of the spell of the sorcerers of Babylon. He is unbounding my fetters in the dark dungeons of Babylon the Great. I am taking great care not to err out of the path of life because I can easily fall back under the power of the principalities of the kingdom of darkness.

Thousands of thousands of Christians are getting slain in the spirit by the hordes of hell. Just like Eve in the garden, they are being seduced by the Serpent, eating of forbidden fruit, and are committing spiritual fornication with God's enemy,

He that hath an ear, let him hear: the Antichrist is here!

David Matthieu

The vast majority of those who come under the power of this spirit will never realize it's a counterfeit. The only reason these three Christians started to realize something was wrong was because the enemy overplayed his hand—he gave himself away. Evil thoughts, desires and voices started taking control of their minds. They started having terrifying dreams and so forth.

Unfortunately, this is not the case with the vast majority of those who come under the power of this spirit. They experience good things. They experience healings; they experience intense feelings of emotional love for this counterfeit Christ and they become very committed to it. They experience emotional joy and laughter and spiritual drunkenness. They experience 3D, technicolor visions of angels, of Jesus, of the (so called) final harvest, and of a glorified Church. They experience revelations which they think have never been heard before. They partake of a whole range of supernatural experiences—sometimes on a daily basis—which are intense and wonderful. They never seem to experience any of the dark things these three Christians experienced. Thus, they would never consider (even for a moment) that the spirit they have received could possibly be a demonic counterfeit.

As we said before, we are not dealing with some puny little demon that has no real power. We are dealing with a spiritual entity that has the ability to deceive us in a thousand different ways. Whatever your "thing" is, this spirit has the power to give it to you. Is your goal spiritual unity? Antichrist will help you achieve that unity, just as he has helped Billy Graham, Jack Van Impe, and a thousand other well-known ministers achieve it.

Is your goal prosperity? Antichrist will help you achieve it, just as he has helped Kenneth Copeland, John Avanzini, Morris Cerullo, T.D. Jakes, Crefflo Dollar, and a thousand other prosperity preachers achieve it.

Is your goal supernatural power? Antichrist will give you power, just as he has given power to Bob Jones, Paul Cain, Benny Hinn, Rodney Howard Browne, and hundreds of other deluded ministers.

Is your goal a really big church? Antichrist will show you how to build one, just as he has showed Robert Schuller, Paul Yonggi Cho, Bill Hybles, Rick Warren, and hundreds of other Mega-church pastors how to build one.

Is your goal to evangelize the world? Antichrist will give you a plan to do it, just as he has given Paul Crouch, Pat Robertson, George Otis Jr., Ed Silvoso, C. Peter Wagner, and many other world evangelism gurus a plan.

However, there's one thing the spirit of Antichrist can't do. It can't transform us into the image of Jesus Christ. It can transform us in many ways—all of which are bad—but it will never be able to transform us into Christ's image. It can talk about transforming us into His image, just like Rick Joyner, Mike Bickle, Paul Cain, Bob Jones, and multitudes of other Third Wave teachers talk about becoming like Christ. But it will never be able to produce the goods because the only nature it possess is the (religious) nature of Satan. Consequently, regardless of how good their intentions may be, those who end up under its power will never receive the inheritance God has for them.

The Big Picture

Today, every conceivable type of church—regardless of their denominational (or non-denominational) affiliation, regardless of their doctrine or spiritual vision, regardless of their historical roots or background—is being deceived by the spirit of Antichrist. They are not all being deceived by the same exact lies or doctrinal errors, but they are all being deceived by the same spirit.

Satan doesn't have to get every individual Christian or fellowship to accept the same lie, the same false doctrine, the same false revelation, the same false supernatural experience, or the same unscriptural vision or goal, in order to bring us under his influence or power. Just as he has a particular deception to match every individual Christian, so he has a particular deception that is tailor-made to deceive an entire fellowship or group of fellowships. There are many different ways a person or a fellowship can be brought under the influence of the spirit of Antichrist.

Recently we ran across an interesting article by David Bradshaw and Jim Rutz. Jim Rutz is the founder and president of "The Open Church"—a group of fellowships who are seeking to restore the churches to the original, apostolic order of the Early Church. These men say the article presents the "Big Picture" of what God is doing in America. The article, which was written back in 1999, is called: "A Surprise-laden Survey of the Thirty Foremost Movements of God in America". Below are some excerpts from the introduction:

"What you hold in your hands is likely the only thing that purports to tell you what the Lord is up to in the U.S.A. as we enter the 21st century. We all face a growing number of distractions and it's easy to get lost in the forest looking at one tree. As you look at the landscape and read the media, it's easy to get some wrong impressions...things do look a bit disjointed at first glance. Surprisingly, though, when you focus on the major moves of God today, you discover some clear patterns and some stage direction from Heaven about our future actions...The Big Picture is a quick survey of 30 major movements of God today. What they add up to is far more than the sum of the 30...[As you read the list, you'll] be struck by three impressions:

A. These are not mere programs sustained by money and personnel, but ongoing movements born of the Holy Spirit.

B. Taken as a whole, their scope is unprecedented, almost breathtaking.

C. Only a few of them comprise classical, repentance-conversion types of revival. Most are groundwork-laying movements that are preparing the church to launch, sustain, and be able to handle a future revival on a far larger scale than we have ever seen before. Perhaps even a whole new Reformation.

We could add a fourth, rather startling impression: If you consider the commonalities of the 30, it becomes strikingly clear that God is yelling at us to start making some heavy changes in our attitudes and practices right now, presumably in preparation for surprises he will bring upon us soon...

...One humble suggestion: Whether or not you participate in these movements, or even approve of all of them, it's crucial that you realize they are part of what God is doing today, a result of His hand shaping us all for a demanding future. If you feel annoyance or even a coolness in your heart as you see a certain movement listed here, you may have good reason. But it might be spiritually wise for you to stop, repent, and say a short prayer for those laboring in that work. We must start functioning as a body now, not just a cacophony of competing groups."

Before we read the list, we need to consider some of the statements Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Rutz made because they are very enlightening. One thing they said is that when you look at all these movements you will notice some "commonalities" and "clear patterns" between them. Also, when you look at them as a whole, you can see some definite "stage direction from heaven".

In other words, they are admitting that even though these movements appear to be unconnected, the commonalities and patterns between them reveal that not only are they connected, they are being orchestrated from the spirit realm. Of course, they assume these movements are being orchestrated by God, for they say they were "born of the Holy Spirit". They also say that when viewed as a whole, their "scope is unprecedented".

That the scope of these movements is unprecedented, no one can deny. The majority of both independent and denominational churches have already embraced one or more of them. However, that they were born of the Holy Spirit is questionable. The more familiar you become with them, the more you realize just how unscriptural some of them are. Those with good spiritual discernment and a fundamental knowledge of the Scripture will conclude that it was not the Spirit of Christ but the spirit of Antichrist that not only birthed most of these movements, but is orchestrating them as well. This makes their next few statements both stupid and dangerous, for they say: "Whether or not you participate in these movements, or even approve of all of them, it's crucial that you realize they are part of what God is doing today".

Oh really? What if, after examining them, we discover that some (or most) of them stand in direct opposition to the teachings of the Scripture? What if we discover that some of them are promoting heresy? Should we still assume they are part of what God is doing today? They go on to say that even if we have good reason to disapprove of one or more of these movements, we should still: " ...stop, repent, and say a short prayer for those laboring in that work".

Repent? Excuse me! What if our good reason is based on the Scripture? What if our good reason is rooted in the witness we have in our spirits that something is wrong? Why do these men expect us to repent for disapproving of one or more of these movements, even if our reasons are good? The reason they expect us to repent is simple—they are totally convinced that all these movements were birthed by the Holy Spirit. If these movements truly originated from God, then no reason is good enough to reject them. There may be certain things about them we do not like; there may be certain people in them we do not like; but if these movement are of God, then none of our personal opinions are good enough to reject any of them as a whole. In their minds, we should repent for even allowing such petty things as our opinions to affect our view of these movements. We should repent for being so arrogant as to assume that anything we think or feel could ever constitute a good reason to reject what God is doing.

The most enlightening statement they make in the introduction is when they admit that only a few of these movements are the classical repentance-conversion types of revival. The vast majority of them are, as they put it: "...groundwork-laying movements that are preparing the church to launch, sustain, and be able to handle a future revival on a far larger scale than we have ever seen before."

This is a perfect example of the bait Satan is using to deceive so many of us. The more you observe what is happening to the churches in this hour, the more you realize there is a common thread that's being used by him to ensnare and bind us all together. That common thread is evangelism. Most of the doctrinal heresies and counterfeit spiritual experiences we see flooding the churches, and all the heart-wrenching cries for Christian unity, are being presented as wonderful evangelistic tools that will enable us to finally (after all these centuries) fulfill the Great Commission. Fulfilling the Great Commission and bringing in the Final Harvest are two different theological terms that refer to the same basic event—a great end time revival that will sweep millions (some say billions) of sinners into the Kingdom of God just before the return of Jesus Christ.

Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Rutz admit that the majority of the movements on the list were created for the sole purpose of laying the ground-work that will be needed to begin and sustain a great last-day's revival. They then repeat the same call to unity that is being sounded throughout the churches today. They say the coming revival will be so big and the challenges so great, we must: "...start functioning as a body now, not just a cacophony of competing groups".

As you read the following list, please remember that Satan's object is not to get us all to believe the same exact error—though if he can, he certainly will. His goal is to somehow entangle us all in the same Antichrist spirit. There are hundreds of ways in which he can do this. To that end, we appreciate the list Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Rutz have provided here, for without realizing it, they are exposing in a single article, many of ways the spirit of Antichrist is moving inside the Church in this hour.

1. Spiritual Warfare A laity-driven attack on spiritual strongholds has been moving through the American church for over 20 years now. Spiritual Prayer Warfare is sustained, offensive prayer aimed at repentance, restoration and reformation. The movement has recently matured and become better grounded. Key Leaders: Dr. C. Peter Wagner, Global Harvest Ministries; John Dawson, YWAM; Cindy Jacobs, Generals of Intercession; Francis Frangipane, River of Life.

2. Prayer-Walking Beginning in England in 1988, the March For Jesus has spread quickly throughout the world. The goal is mobilizing layman to walk and pray through their local neighborhood for each home and family. Phase two involves door-to-door introduction, soliciting prayer requests, and open homes for the prayer needs of neighbors. Key Leaders: Steve Hawthorne & Roger Forester, Graham Kendricks, Gerald Coats, March For Jesus; Ed Silvoso, Harvest Evangelism; Kenny Foreman, Cathedral of Faith; Rich Gazowsky, Voice of Pentecost.

3. Citywide Prayer These inter-church prayer celebrations involve structured, leadership-directed, corporate repentance and intercession. Often these gatherings involve spontaneous, interactive participation by the whole assembly. Corporate identification and repentance is moving the hand of God to bring healing to our land and healing to the relationships between congregations. Key Leaders: Dr. Jack Hayford, Pray LA, David Bryant, Concerts of Prayer, Rick Joyner, MorningStar.

4. Toronto Revival A fresh expression of "the joy of the Lord" began impacting the U.S. in the spring of 1994. Starting in South Africa with evangelist Rodney Howard-Brown, this new movement seems to combine all the elements of revivals of the past century-and them some. In Lakeland, Florida, at Carpenter's Home Church, 1500 were baptized in one day! Outbreaks of laughter and other spiritual phenomenon at Airport Vineyard Fellowship of Toronto, Canada, have now quickly spread throughout the U.S. Key Leaders.- Rodney Howard-Browne, RHBEA Min.; Peter Rahme, Peter Rahme Min.; Dr. Karl Strader, Carpenter's Home Church.

5. Spiritual Mapping Spiritual Mapping is the intelligence wing of the spiritual warfare movement. It is helping leaders to identify the historic spiritual strongholds region by region-or even house by house! The goal is to focus our efforts on big, pinpoint targets, thus avoiding years of fruitless evangelism. There are now 300-400 projects worldwide. Results have been extraordinary, with entire towns and neighborhoods transformed. Key Leaders: George Otis, Sentinal Communications; Luis Bush, A-D. 2000 Movement; Gary Bergal, Intercessors for America.

6. Pastoral Renewal A fresh commitment to weekly prayer, city-wide spiritual unity, and locally-based prayer retreats for pastors and church leaders that moves beyond denominational barriers. The result: Establishment of a bond between the spiritual leaders that will help break down the walls between churches and provide authentic ministry to the ministers. Key Leaders: Joe Aldrich, International Renewal Min; Francis Frangipane, River of Life; Hal Sacks, El Shaddai Min.

7. Restoration of Family A loosely-affiliated movement advocating the traditional/Biblical nuclear family structure as the foundational solution to the moral, educational, governmental, and economic crises of our day. Key Leaders: Dr. James Dobson, Focus on the Family; Lou Sheldon, Traditional Values Coalition; Don Wildman, American Family Association; Gary Bauer, Family Research Council, Gary Smalley, Today's Family.

8. Home School Movement A Christian response to the decay of public schools and their shift into Politically-Correct (PC) indoctrination. The goal is to restore the role of parents (or Christian teachers) as the primary educators/mentors for children. Home schoolers have grown to nearly half a million strong during the past 15 years, and SAT scores reflect the superiority of the academic, spiritual, and social maturity of students. Key Leaders: Dr. Paul Lindstrom, Liberty Christian Academy; Mary Pride, Practical Home Schooling Magazine; Sue Welch, Teaching Home Magazine; Dr. Bob Simonds, Nat. Assoc. of Christian Educators; Sam Blumenfeld, Paradigm Company; Paul Jehle, Heritage Institute.

9. Men's Movement 'The restoration of the Biblical role of manhood/fatherhood by affirming that true Christianity alone produces "real men." Meetings range from huge stadium rallies to intimate living room groups and are designed to foster encouragement, accountability, and motivation for Christian men to remain faithful to God, family, and their calling. Key Leaders: Dr. Edwin Cole, Paul Cole, Christian Men's Network; Randy Phillips, Coach Bill McCartney, Promise Keepers.

10. Small Group Movements

A. Meta-Church A meta-church is a practical hybrid of the cell church, traditional church and city-church patterns because it allows a church to maintain intimacy and accountability, yet grow to any size. The popularity of the meta-church model is based on: its flexibility, allowing for gradual transition; its vision for both the small group and synergism of the large corporate, city-wide celebration; and its emphasis on leadership development. Key Leaders: Carl George, church consultant, seminary professor; Bill Hybels, Willow Creek Community Church.

B. Cell Church This worldwide movement is presently sweeping through the U.S. and is seeking to empower lay leadership and restore the home-based meeting as the primary seedbed for evangelism, discipleship, and accountability in the local church. Celebration services include pulpit preaching and teaching to equip the saints for their primary ministry-outside of church buildings. Key Leaders: Dr. Ralph Neighbour, Dr. Bill Beckham, Touch Outreach; Dr. Yonggi Cho; Mike Bickle, Metro Vineyard Fellowship; Dale Galloway, Church Growth Institute; Pete Scazzero, New Life Fellowship.

11. Open Church A widespread movement with no central coordination. Open churches are full-fledged institutional congregations that allow body life in three ways: 1) open worship, in which laymen are allowed to speak in praise; open sharing, in which laymen are allowed a wide range of interaction, prayer, confession, song, testimony, teaching, etc.; and open ministry, in which gifts are used both inside and outside the church-in accordance with the Spirit's innovation, not just in conformity to existing programs. Strong leadership is developed while clergy are freed from the CEO straitjacket, An open church is the next logical step beyond the cell or meta-church. Key Leaders: Jim Rutz, Open Church Ministries; Johnny and Juanita Berguson, Kingdom Co.; Donald Dunn, Partnership in the Gospel; Rich Gazowsky, Voice of Pentecost.

12. Non-Institutional Churches

A. House Churchs A quiet but active movement worldwide that is committed to the original, apostolically patterned, church-in-the-home structure. The total abandonment of church buildings, professional pastors, big budgets, and set rituals has attracted the attention of many born-again, stay-at-home believers as the solution to their frustration with many post-Biblical traditions. Intimacy and accountability are their strength. Key Leaders: Wolfgang Simson, Houses That Change the World, Nate & Joanne Krupp, Preparing the Way Publishing; Hal Miller, Salem Christian Community; Gene Edwards, The SeedSowers; Steve Atkerson, New Testament Restoration Newsletter; Robert Banks, Fuller Seminary; Howard Snyder, United Theological Services; Jon Zens, Searching Together; Warren and Helen Peterson, House-to-House Newsletter.

B. Covenant and Intentional Communities A Biblical church structure that views the local church as an interactive, participatory family, not just an institution. The goals: a commitment to body ministry, interdependence, accountability, membership by covenant, (a "shared life'), and a willingness to submit to discipline that is in stark contrast to the rugged individualism most Christians drag into their local church life. Key Leaders: Barry and Anne Byrd, Marble Christian Community; Chnstian Smith, House Church Discussion List (on the Net); Robert and Julia Banks, Fuller Seminary; Paul Stevens, Regent University.

13. Worship Renewal A "new song" seems to mark revival flashpoints in church history-and today is no different. Today's shift in worship covers an enormous range, all the way from the soaring majesty of classical and liturgical worship to the spontaneous Pentecostal and Charismatic expression. Change is rampant, including the collaboration between prayer and worship leaders. The boundaries seem limitless as God's people are reaching for a more personal expression of praise and worship of the King of Kings. Key Leaders: Dr. Robert Webber, Wheaton College; Steven Fry, Steven Fry Min.; LaMar Boshman, LaMar Boshman Min.; Malcolm Duplessis, Maranatha Music; Geoff Shearn, The Worship Service; Ted Sandquist, Psalm of Life.

14. Plurality of Leadership This church leadership structure views plural eldership and team ministry as the norm, rather than a "one-man-band" approach. This model allows leaders to focus on their primary area of spiritual gifting (apostolic, prophetic, shepherd, teacher, and evangelistic) and avoid the unhealthy expectation of super-spirituality from an individual, thus solving the pastor's number one occupational hazard-burnout. Consensus decision-making offers a scriptural alternative to the executive or democratic forms of decision-making. Key Leaders: Alexander Strauch, Biblical Eldership; Mark Virkler, Communion With God; Dale Rumble, Fountain of Life; Dudley Hall, Successful Christian Living Min.; Rick Joyner, MorningStar.

15. Church Growth Movement This transdenominational movement utilizes proven marketing and PR techniques to increase the size and quality of the local church and has offered great hope to American church leaders facing dwindling congregations and budgets over the past ten years. While church growth advocates have experienced measurable success, the most successful leadership model has proven to be a plurality of elders (rather than a CEO) , but it takes time to find and train such leaders. Key Leaden: Dr. C. Peter Wagner, Global Harvest Ministries; Carl George, author, church consultant; Dr. Jack Hayford, Church on the Way; Bill Hybels, Willow Creek Comm.. Church.

16. Denominations Although denominationalism is waning on the U.S. Protestant scene, denominations are still alive and well. Some are even growing nicely. One thinks of the Southern Baptist and Assembly of God denominations, which are still growing at the rate of 1.5% and 4% annually respectively. Smaller denominations such as Christian & Missionary Alliance and Foursquare are averaging 5% and 1 1% annual growth. In contrast, the more liberal mainline denominations are the wave of the dim past. For the most part, momentum for growth now lies with the parachurch organizations. When revival comes, the churches will be the happy recipients of the fruit of that momentum.

17. Servant Evangelism This fresh approach to personal evangelism is focused on individual deeds of kindness and servanthood in the name of Christ, rather than dragging sinners into a church building to hear an elegant professional sermon that will "get them saved." Servant-evangelists do not view the traditional "compel them to come in" as wrong, but they do find that the results are more fruitful when a personal, compassionate approach of "blessing" the unsaved is employed. Meeting people right where they are, without preconditions of church attendance. Key Leaders: Steve Sjogren, Vineyard Fellowship; Tommy Barnett, Phoenix First Assembly; Doug Daugherty, Chattanooga Resource Foundation.

18. Relief and Development The rise of our massive social service operations has marked the end of the conservative reaction against the old liberal "social gospel." Relief and development is not only a basic function for the body of Jesus Christ, it also continues to be a strategic opening into people's hearts-and the hearts of their governments. Key Organizations: World Vision, Food For the Hungry, Mennonite Central Committee, World Relief, World Concern, MAP, Operation Blessing.

19. Restoration of Calling This movement trumpets secular work as ministry and mission. The main thrust today is encouraging workers to be wiser and stronger witnesses on the job. The primary means are meetings, trade guilds, and empowerment networking associations. In the near future, the churchwide Strategic Careers Coalition will add a second thrust helping Christians get into the key positions that will expand both their personal witness and their impact on the whole culture. Key Leaders: Pete Hammond, InterVarsity Marketplace; Jeff Trautman, InterCristo; Strategic Careers Coalition; Dennis Peacocke, National Interns Program; Bill Hamon, Prophetic Businessman's Assn., Craig R. Smith, True-Wealth.com.

20. Citywide Evangelism/Urban Ministry Beginning in the 1950s with Billy Graham, citywide evangelistic crusades have reached millions of unchurched and has had a strong unifying force among local churches around the world. In the U.S. the long term impact has been stifled by a lack of unity and interaction among local churches, especially during the critical follow-up discipleship process. Recent efforts by evangelist Luis Palau have been more successful in that respect. Citywide youth crusades provide a much needed vision for teens to reach the unchurched. Key Leaders.- Billy Graham, Billy Graham Evangelistic Assn.; Luis Palau, Luis Palau Evangelistic Assn.; Ron Luce, Teen Mania Min.; Bill Mikler, Mikler Evangelistic Alliance; Scott McKinney.

21. Media Outreach (Print, TV, Radio, Internet) As media moguls scramble to keep Americans entertained, Christian leaders in the mass media are reaching for innovative methods of communicating a Biblical worldview from within the mainstream media, as well as with Christian media. The new era of interactive communications has the potential of providing a renaissance for quality independent radio, TV and film producers without billion dollar budgets. The establishment media remain reluctant to feature Biblically-correct programming. Key Leaders: Dr. Ted Baehr, Christian Film & TV Commission; Cal Thomas, Cal Thomas Show; Pat Robertson, CBN; Greg Anderson, Salem Comm.; Rch Germaine, Media Arts Letter; Bill Bright, Campus Crusade; Dr. James Kennedy, Coral Ridge Ministries

22. Cultural/Racial Reconciliation This movement is committed to breaking down the historic spiritual, cultural, racial, and economic barriers between Christians (and everyone else) by strategic leadership training, inter-church urban problem solving, and public repentance and racial reconciliation. Historic Black/White/Hispanic/Asiatic church barriers are beginning to give way to the all-encompassing culture (ethnos) of the Kingdom of God: unity in diversity under the Lordship of Christ. Key Leaden: Dr. Tony Evans, Urban Alternative; John Perkins, Urban Family; Wellington Boone, New Generation Min.; Cindy Jacobs, Generals of Intercession; Doug Daugherty, Chattanooga Resource Foundation.

23. Intellectual Warfare We have neglected this critical battleground for so long that a Christian worldview is no longer considered intellectually valid or PC in American culture. But today the intellectual front lines are being manned by a wide spectrum of thinking believers from almost every discipline, like the sciences, psychology, sociology, economics, history, ethics, education, law, medicine, theology, etc. Key Leaders: Os Guinness, American Forum; George Grant, Legacy; Doug Wilson, Credenda Agenda; Dennis Peacocke, Strategic Christian Services; Jay Grimstead, Coalition on Revival; R.E. McMaster, Jr.,ne Reaper; Gary North, Institute for Christian Economics; Hugh Ross, Reasons to Believe; Tal Brooke, Spiritual Counterfeits Project; John Eidsmoe, JD; Jose Gonzales, Semilla Ministries; Josh McDowell.

24. Spiritual Integration A renewal movement focused on establishing the Lordship of Christ in both individuals and institutions. Leaders represent a wide spectrum of theological perspectives, ranging from optimistic Premills to triumphant Reconstructionists. The goals: 1) To equip the saints to think through a biblical perspective on all subjects, 2) To reconnect Christians to their history, 3) The systematic maturation of each believer in preparation for deployment into service, and 4) Changing the worldview of the general culture. Key Leaders: Dr. Jay Grimstead, Coalition on Revival; Gary DeMar, American Vision; Dr. David Noebel, Summit Ministries; Doug Wilson, Credenda Agenda; Jim Spillman, Jim Spillman Ministries

25. Legal Warfare In a post-modern, antinomian American culture, litigation grows expeditiously. Today almost all absolutes are shunned in favor of "positive" (evolving) law. Almost forgotten are the days of Madison and Blackstone, who argued that theology was always the foundation for public policy and law. Nevertheless, the embers of a Biblically-founded legal reformation are being fanned by the internal collapse of relativism and humanism.

From university lecture halls and local court rooms, to church-based law classes, the "Natural Law/ Common Law" heritage of our Founding Fathers is increasingly being articulated by Christian legal activists-challenging the evolution-based legal establishment over such issues as: education, free speech, abortion, euthanasia, private property, and jurisdiction. Key Leaders: Herb Titus, The Forecast; Jay Sekulow, CASE; Keith Fournier, ACIJ; Mike Farris, HSLDA, Dan Gibson, School for the Last Days; Franklin Sanders, Moneychanger; Vern Holland, The Freeman; Greg Meadows, The LA Lawman; Peter Kershaw, Heal Our Land; John Whitehead, Rutherford Institute.

26. Civil Action

A. Political Action In response to the shift toward Socialistic, democratic socialism, the momentum is growing for a localized "bottom-up" strategy for political problem solving. The foundation of Christian political involvement must be laid upon a Biblically-correct understanding of the authority structure of each sphere of government (self, family, church, business, civil). As political disillusionment grows, many are now calling for a new political party that will not compromise the Biblical foundation of a self-governing, free republic. Whats needed: A renaissance of personal responsibility by "we the people," forcing civil government's responsibility down to keeping the peace and punishing the lawbreaker. Key Leaders.- Mark Bellisle, Providence Foundation; Russ Walton, Plymouth Rock Foundation; Billy Falling, Christian Voters League; Tim & Beverly LaHaye, Family Life Seminars & Concerned Women of America; Howard Phillips, U. S. Taxpayers Party; Pat Robertson ,Chnstian Coalition.

B. Public Policy A growing number of long-term political thinker/activists have been quietly laying plans for a comprehensive strategy to regain enough political force to begin impacting the whole culture through public policy. The most realistic approach seems to be focused on local and state public policy goals and local town hall meetings, given that the trend is toward decentralization of government and local activism. 'The key is to network church, media, business, and political leaders together without demanding total theological agreement. Key Leaders: Doug Daugherty, Chattanooga Resource Fdn.; Reed Carpenter, Pittsburgh Resource Fdn.; Tom Jackson, Dennis Peacocke, Strategic Christian Services; Dr. Jay Grimstead, COR; David Barton, Wallbuilders; Lou Sheldon, Traditional Values Coalition; Chuck Colson, Prison Fellowship, William Bennett, Empower America.

27. Church Planting This movement is committed to church multiplication by refocusing efforts on horizontal church planting (many, small), rather than vertical (few, big), which is less reproducible worldwide' Advocates cite the New Testament model as the norm for seeing the church grow by healthy reproduction rather than by centralized programs, ecclesiastical hierarchies or seminary-trained professionals. Key Leaders: Jim Montgomery, DAWN 2000; Jim Hayford, Santa Barbara Foursquare Church; Dale Rumble, Fountain of Life; Carlos Ramirez, Verbo Ministries, Dr. C. Peter Wagner, Global Harvest Ministries; Bob Fitts, Saturation Church Planting.

28. Short-Term Missions The biggest recent boon to the centuries-old missions enterprise has been the advent of short-term opportunities, which give anyone with a few spare weeks or months an up-close look at the field and a true taste of the work. Short-termers are a vibrant new link between home and the field-and the largest single source of long-term missionaries. Key Organizations: YWAM, Operation Mobilization, STEM Ministries, International Teams, RVCF Global Projects, Campus Crusade Stop Out. Key Leaders.- Art Beals, University Pres.; Harry Burke, LIM Spearhead; Dave Shibley, Global Advance.

29. Tentmaking Because of spiraling costs and closed countries, classic missionary work cannot hope to finish the job of world evangelization alone, so tentmakers are stepping in to fill the gap. At almost no cost to the church, they are going to almost every country in the world, including Creative-Access Nations (CANs). As professionals, they are easily accepted and serve as reproducible models. Some early failures have been replaced by more sophisticated efforts, including tentmaking teams. Key Leaders.- Ruth Siemens, Global Opportunities; Don Hamilton, Gary Taylor, Christy Wilson, INTENT; Dwight Nordstrom, Tentmaking Franchises Intl; Robert L Young, IICS.

30. Closure There is a growing conviction that fulfillment of the Great Commission is within our grasp today. Rather than aiming at "the world," closure leaders have focused sharply on the 12,000 unreached people groups, even to the extent of mapping their locale and devising insights (like the 10/40 Window) and strategies (like Adopt-a-People) to reach them all, perhaps as soon as 2020. In fact, the A D. 2000 Movement itself is quite an array of groups. The perennial nemesis of the closure movement is the slow-growth mentality that causes the church to pour 98% of its mission efforts into established work. Key Leaders.- Luis Bush, AD. 2000 Movement; Ralph Winter, US Center for World Mission; Keith Butler, Adopt-a-People Clearinghouse; Patrick Johnstone, Operation World; Tom Houston, Lausanne Committee."

In the next part of our series we will take a closer look at some of the movements in this list and see whether or not they really were born of the Holy Spirit. Right now however, let's look at the conclusion Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Rutz present at the end of the article.

"If you felt good all the way through the list, congratulations! It's probably a sign you're in tune with God's panoramic agenda...You may have a legitimate concern about the theology or practices in several of the movements above. Perhaps you're 100% right in every case, and the flaws you perceive are all too real. Still, you are called by God to labor alongside your brothers and sisters in every corner of the Kingdom. Today, Christian competition is out, love is in. And love works...

...[If] these 30 movements are a legitimate mosaic and not a jumble of optional add-ons, then we are faced with an era-ending fact: The scope of God's Kingdom work today is far broader than we can complete with today's ill-deployed Christian forces.

Take a careful look at the mosaic of movements and you will notice that almost all of them require massive involvement (or even leadership) by lay men and women. The work is now too broad and varied to load onto the shoulders of our usual pack mules, the clergy...Nor can we win on all 30 fronts by using the usual core activists in the laity. God's call is not for 20% of the laymen who bear 80% of the workload to frantically do even more. It is a call for us to bravely revamp the church and compel into its very core the 80% who now feel they are mainly spectators and consumers.

For the first time ever in this country, we must make a major shift to near-total involvement, even bringing in millions of those who have given up going to church because "there was nothing in it for me." A tall order. How can it be done? By listening to what the Commander of the Armies of Heaven is telling us now. Examine the 30 battlegrounds He has set before us, and you will find that He is preparing us for a revival that will be even more far-reaching than the pew/preacher revivals of the past...

...We are leaving the 1700-year-long era of spectator Christianity, in which the standard sign of a Christian was his attendance at church. We are now entering the era of open Christianity, in which Christians will be known by their true participation in the body of Christ. In the years ahead, your church will discover three keys to success: empowerment, empowerment, and empowerment.

And it's about time!"

Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Rutz begin their conclusion by saying if we felt good about all the movements listed, this is a sign that we are in tune with God's panoramic agenda. Well, what if we felt bad about one or more of these groups? What if we have a legitimate concern about the theology or the practices of some of them? Moreover, what if we are 100% correct in every case? Is this reason enough to reject any of them?

Of course their answer is: No! Even if the concerns we have about the theology or practices of some of these groups is found to be completely accurate, according to them, it's God's will that we ignore all those concerns and "labor alongside" our brothers and sisters anyway.

If this isn't the voice of Antichrist, nothing is! The message is simple: "Don't worry about doctrine; don't worry about religious practices or experiences; we are all God's children regardless of what we believe or how we live (or what spirit we follow?). Therefore, no reason is good enough to separate from each other. No reason is good enough to reject any of the new religious ideas or movements that are coming forth in this hour".

While reading their list, you may have noticed that when discussing Cultural/Racial Reconciliation, they say that cultural barriers between different ethnic churches are finally: "...beginning to give way to the all-encompassing culture (ethnos) of the kingdom of God—unity in diversity".

Doesn't it seem a little strange that this new "ethnos" (or, culture) of the Kingdom of God—Unity in Diversity—also just happens to be the same exact culture of the rising Global Society and Global Church?

What will it take to wake us up? What will it take to make us see that the same spirit which is preaching Unity in Diversity outside the Church, among the pagans and the worlds false religions, is the same spirit which is preaching Unity in Diversity inside the Church. Friends, it's the same message and it's coming from the same spirit!

Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Rutz go on to say that the mosaic of movements on their list is really a call by God to "bravely revamp the church" (this is certainly being done!) and also, to bring millions of those who have "given up going to church" back into the fold. In other words, they want all Christians to get involved in one or more of these movements.

Total involvement. That's the goal of these two men—and it's the goal of Satan too. Just like Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Rutz, Satan wants everyone involved in one or more of the religious movements he has spawned inside the Church, for he knows that when we get involved with them we are opening ourselves up to another spirit. He knows that once we have opened up to another spirit, he has his foot in the door and he can begin to increase his hold on us.

The answer to the deception of total involvement is just the opposite—total uninvolvement—and this is exactly what the Spirit of God is calling His people to. He is calling us to separate ourselves from everything and everyone that is involved with another spirit. He is calling us to separate from the false ideas, goals, doctrines and practices of Religious Babylon, and He is calling us to separate from anyone who refuses to separate from these things.

Friends, Satan hates it when he sees a people who (under the guidance of the Holy Spirit) separate themselves from all the tricks and the traps he is using to ensnare today's churches. He hates it when he sees a people who refuse to swallow every new teaching that comes down the pike, who refuse to follow the latest church fad or hop on the latest church bandwagon. He hates it when he sees a people who refuse to run after signs and wonders and world famous ministers, especially today's (so called) apostles and prophets.

Oh, how the enemy hates it when he sees a people who purpose in their hearts to test the spirits and remain true to the teachings of God's Word. He hates it when he sees a people who choose to remain spiritually pure and unspotted by this world and its demon-infested cultures. These are the kind of people Satan hates with a passion. These are the kind of people he will seek to destroy through government-sanctioned persecution in the near future.

Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Rutz go on to say that this mosaic of movements is a call by God to prepare for: "...a revival that will be even more far-reaching than the pew/preacher revivals of the past". There's the bait again! We are told that a world-wide revival is coming and that preparation for it must take precedence over everything else. We must ignore all our cultural and social differences, all our doctrinal differences, all our denominational differences (and any other kind of differences we may have), and join together because only a combined effort can succeed in handling all the wonderful things God has in store for us.

We have said this before and we will say it again—the whole concept of a world-wide revival before the return of the Lord is absolute hogwash. There's not a single New Testament Scripture that teaches it plainly, or even hints at it. It's nothing but a figment of the religious imagination of men, and it's being used by Satan as a Trojan Horse to destroy God's people in this hour.

It doesn't matter if every preacher on the planet believes it—it's still a lie. It doesn't matter if every Christian on the planet believes it—it's still a lie. If you believe it, you are not only believing a lie, you are calling Jesus Christ and all his apostles liars because they taught the exact opposite! They warned us repeatedly that in the last days a world-wide spiritual delusion would sweep the nations, and multitudes of Christians as well, into the arms of Antichrist.

In addition, Jesus prophesied that just prior to His return, the saints in every nation would be hated, persecuted and killed (Matt. 24:7-9). This scenario is fast becoming a reality. The majority of the nations on this planet are already persecuting and killing God's people within their borders. In Western nations such as Canada, France, the European Union, Australia—and yes, even in the United States—new "hate-crimes" laws are being passed almost every day. In the not-too-distant future, these laws will turn every Bible-believing Christian into a criminal. Revival enthusiasts need to come down off their glory cloud for a few minutes and do some factual research, for not only does the Scripture deny the idea of a last-days, world-wide revival, the political and social events that are unfolding before our very eyes deny this whole fantasy.

Finally, Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Rutz tell us the 1700-year-long era of "spectator" Christianity is over. Gone are the days when the mark of a Christian was his church attendance. We have now entered the era of "open" Christianity, where Christians: "...will be known by their true participation in the body of Christ." Here is where today's deception becomes incredibly wicked and insidious. For you see, what these men are saying is absolutely true. God is (and has for many years) been calling His people out of Spectator Christianity in order that they might experience true participation in the body of Christ. However, what Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Rutz are offering the reader is an Antichrist counterfeit of this experience, for the participation they are referring to is participation in the building of Antichrist's Global Church!

If the only two choices we have are: (1) to stay in an old-fashioned church which practices Spectator Christianity, or (2) join another fellowship which, under the guise of practicing Open Christianity is actually helping to build the Global Church, then we are better off staying in our old-fashioned church! Of course, one of the problems with choosing to stay with your old-fashioned church is that since the early 1980's these kinds of churches have been rapidly disappearing. Over the last 25 years, literally tens-of-thousands of these kinds of churches—both Fundamentalist and Pentecostal—have been drawn into one or more of the movements on Mr. Rutz's list.

This is why so many Christians have left the Church System the last few years. They aren't dropping out because they want to be more than spectators but aren't allowed to be. They are dropping out because they have no other choice. They see their fellowships being seduced by another spirit and they know they can't go along with it. They are dropping out because when they try to find another old-fashioned church to attend, they realize that all the churches in their town (and in all the surrounding towns) have jumped on the same "new paradigm" bandwagon. They realize that the only course of action left is to exit the whole church scene, so that's what they are doing.

Brothers and sisters, God knew before the foundation of the world that the whole Church System would be overcome by Antichrist in the last days. That's precisely why He has been calling His people out of that System for over fifty years now. He has been calling us to leave that whole confused mess behind and walk with Him in the wilderness of separation.

Over the years, many have heard that call and have answered it. As they came out and began their sojourn in the wilderness, God began to join small bands of them together. He would take two or three people here, and a couple of families there, and knit them together in Spirit and in truth. Then He began teaching them how to overcome Satan, sin and self. For many years He has been purging them of every spot and wrinkle and has been transforming them into a spiritual army that is destined to bear the full image of Jesus Christ. On the Day of the Lord, they will be called out of that wilderness by Jesus Himself. They will be gathered together from the four corners of the earth and they will join the Lord on white horses as He rides forth to subdue the nations and establish His kingdom—and they will be precious stones in that kingdom.

And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Revelation 19:14‑15

Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

Malachai 3:16‑17

To Be Continued