2nd Sunday in Lent
Kathleen Norris recounts in Amazing Grace of preparing a Bible Study session on the "Antichrist" and her pastor's reply:
What the pastor said was so simple that it will remain with me forever. "Each one of us acts as an Antichrist," he said, "whenever we hear the gospel and do not do it".
Too often we believe what sounds good instead of searching for the truth. Satan is clever because there are always threads of truth in all his deceptions. We get tangled in the rhetoric and miss the point.
Read 1 John 4:1-3
. . . do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. . . every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist. . .
1 John 4:1,3 NIV
Many will try to confuse us ~ evil spirits and humans that are being used by the evil spirits. Scripture tells us that every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. To acknowledge Jesus requires our words ~ our confession of faith in Jesus ~ and our actions ~ our deeds done in response to our faith. Words are powerful but our actions evidence our faith to others. When we say we believe that Jesus is our resurrected Savior but act without love, we become the Antichrist.
Consider this!
What the pastor said was so simple that it will remain with me forever. "Each one of us acts as an Antichrist," he said, "whenever we hear the gospel and do not do it".
Too often we believe what sounds good instead of searching for the truth. Satan is clever because there are always threads of truth in all his deceptions. We get tangled in the rhetoric and miss the point.
Read 1 John 4:1-3
. . . do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. . . every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist. . .
1 John 4:1,3 NIV
Many will try to confuse us ~ evil spirits and humans that are being used by the evil spirits. Scripture tells us that every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. To acknowledge Jesus requires our words ~ our confession of faith in Jesus ~ and our actions ~ our deeds done in response to our faith. Words are powerful but our actions evidence our faith to others. When we say we believe that Jesus is our resurrected Savior but act without love, we become the Antichrist.
Consider this!
- What must one believe about Christ to be a Christian?
- Why is important to know The Truth?
- Does the Antichrist live at my house?
Father ~ I know the world is full of trickery, and Satan delights in my failure to listen for the Spirit of Truth. I want a discerning heart. Amen. ~dho
All rights reserved ~ used with permission of the author
Copyright 2009 by Donna Oswalt
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