The Antichrist Spirit Can Take Over

The Antichrist Spirit Can Take Over an Apostate Believer Is a Loss of Love For the Truth.

"...they received not the love of the truth..." (2 Thessalonians 2:10).

The spirit of antichrist moves in when God's truth is no longer loved or appropriated: "...all might be damned who believed not the truth..." (2 Thes 2:12).

The prophet Jeremiah wrote:

"Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgement, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. "And though they say, The Lord liveth; surely they swear it falsely. 0 Lord, are not thin eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return" (Jeremiah 5:1-3).

This passage is not speaking of heathen, but of Israel, God's people. God is saying to Jeremiah, "Go find me just one person who has a heart for the truth anyone and Ill pardon him. But you won't find one, Jeremiah! These people say they love Me, but they don't receive My correction. They dont grieve when I reprove them. They no longer tremble at My Word!" You may think, "Im glad Im not like Israel. I love God's Word. I haven't lost my love for truth." Yet I urge you to test yourself! Let me give you three ways to determine whether you have the love of truth in your heart:

1.The first sign of a loss of love for the truth is when you forsake assembling with other believers.

If it's a task for you to make it to church, then you've lost your love for Gods truth: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25).

When you no longer look forward to being in Gods house with His people when the preaching seems boring and worship no longer matters you have opened yourself up to the spirit of antichrist. And the Lord admonishes you: "The closer you get to My coming, the more perilous the times will be. And the more important it is that you gather with My people!"

Yet something tragic is happening all across America and Canada. Pastors are calling our ministry and telling us, "We have to shut down our midweek service because so few show up. We've already had to stop holding Sunday night meetings, because people won't come unless we show a movie or put on a concert. And people don't want to come on Sunday mornings anymore if they think the service will last more than an hour."

Where are God's children if they aren't in the Lords house? They are at restaurants, parties, socials, sporting events. Most of all, they are parked in front of their TVs watching programs of ever-increasing evil!

2. A second sign of a loss of love for the truth is when reproving messages make you think of someone else's sin and not your own. Whenever you hear a prophetic sermon, do you sit smugly by, thinking, "Wow, does that ever describe Brother So-and-so. Thank God, he's finally being reached. Lord, pour it on!" I ask you how much, if any, of this newsletter message are you applying to yourself? How much stirring and conviction are going on in your heart? Are you praying, "God, turn Your Word on my heart"?

I urge you to heed David's words: "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee" (Psalm 119:11).

3. A third sign of loss of love for the truth is when reproof angers you rather than humbles you.

God says a hatred of reproof reveals a forsaking of the path of holiness: "Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die" (Proverbs 15:10).

Perhaps you often walk away from a reproving sermon, saying, "That word was just too hard. And that preacher is just too angry!" Beloved, any godly shepherd will preach with holy anger. That's because he is angry at the devil, angry at the antichrist spirit angry at anything that draws your soul away from true worship of the Father!