The purpose of this message is to show my readers that the "man of sin" is the Antichrist and the false gospel that he preaches is "humanism"
The name “Antichrist” is only used by the apostle John (1 John 2:18 – 23; 2 John 1:7). According to the apostle Paul this Antichrist is called the Man of Sin or the son of perdition (2 Thess. 2:3, NKJV) or the “man of lawlessness” (NIV).
“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as god in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thess. 2:3, 4, NKJV, emphasis added).
Paul said:
1. The Antichrist has not been revealed yet. Therefore at this time we still don’t know who he is and when he would reveal himself. Therefore Christian should be on their guard from being deceived by anyone who says he knows who the Antichrist is.
2. Before the Antichrist is revealed there will be false doctrines and great apostasy in the Christian Church.
3. The Day of the Lord (Christ Second Coming) will not come until the Antichrist manifests himself as God, claims to be God and sits at the temple of God (Church or any place of worship) and claims the honors due to God.
The Antichrist
Careful study of the Scripture enables us to know a great deal about the Antichrist, his attributes, his doctrine and the timing of his coming to the temple of God.
The antichrist is a false Christ
The Antichrist’s name gives the indication he is anti-Christ. He has the ability to work miracles, signs and wonders to deceive Christians:
Jesus said, “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24, NKJV, emphasis added).
The antichrist is opposition to Christ
The Antichrist is opposition to Christ personally; he is against the Church of Jesus Christ; he is against Christ’s Word – the Holy Scripture.
Christ’s mission is to reveal God the Father to men whom God has chosen:
Jesus said, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world” (John 17:6).
On the other hand, the Antichrist’s mission is to deceive God’s people and take them from God’s Kingdom back to the kingdom of the world where Satan is god. The Antichrist opposes God Himself and says blasphemous things against God:
John said, “Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacles, and those who dwell in heaven” (Rev. 13:6).
The one motivating force in his life is opposition the Jesus Christ, opposition to all that He stands for, and to all that stand for Him.
The antichrist takes the place of Christ
The name Antichrist also indicates substitution. The Antichrist opposes Jesus in order to supplant Him, to take His place as Christ.
2 Thessalonians 2 points out how the Antichrist comes as an impostor of Christ. Christ has the Kingdom of God; the Antichrist has the kingdom of Satan. Christ comes by the power of the Holy Spirit; the Antichrist will come by the power of a spirit, who is the Devil himself. The Antichrist is Satan’s counterpart to Christ. Jesus is the Son of God sent by God the Father to establish His Kingdom, redeem His people and renew His creation; the Antichrist is Satan’s choice to establish his kingdom, gather in as many people as he can, and subject all to him. Ultimately God will cast everyone in the Antichrist’s kingdom together with the Antichrist himself to the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10). God’s total plan hinges on the works of Jesus, the Christ; Satan’s plans hinge on the works and success of the Antichrist.
Antichrist’s method of deception
The primary work of the Antichrist is deception, which also characterizes Satan in his attempts to undermine the work of God in the world.
Paul said, “… Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great things if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works (2 Cor. 11:14, 15, emphasis added).
Satan transforms himself “into an angel of light” and inspires his ministers to masquerade as “ministers of righteousness”. The serpent who deceived Eve was a minister of Satan. The Antichrist who is deceiving God’s people is also a minister of Satan. Both these evil ministers used the same method.
The serpent did not urge Eve to shake her fist at God and denounce Him, nor did he inspire her to practice overly evil acts. On the contrary, he enticed her with promises of a better “self-image”, of being a wiser and better person – of even becoming “like God”. What could be wrong with that high ambition? Evil is far more seductive and effective when it is packaged as good. If he can encourage expressions of “man’s basic goodness” that are high-minded and spiritual, but without Christ, Satan is achieving his purpose.
After the Fall Satan became the “god of this age” who has blinded the minds of the natural men (2 Cor. 4:4). The natural man is basically a rebel and this makes the Antichrist’s job of deception easier. Furthermore, even so-called Christians who are not continuously filled with the Spirit and walking in the Spirit are easy targets for the Antichrist.
Humanism
The Antichrist makes use of the sinful nature of the natural man (or weak Christian) to exalt self and promote the cause of man without God. The natural man’s sinful nature of rebellion causes him to go his own ways, exercises his own wisdom, own will, and using his own strength for his own purpose. In other words, he does everything independent from God. He is “soulish” and his spirit is dead and cannot understand God who is Spirit (Please refer to my previous postings). Therefore he will not seek God but seek after the benefits of God. He worships God’s creation rather than the Creator (Romans 1:18 – 22). He is self centered and man-centered. In contrast, a true Christian is Christ-centered, God fearing and therefore believes in Bible based doctrine.
The Antichrist’s doctrine is humanism. He teaches men, especially careless and immature Christians, to follow humanistic values to achieve humanistic goals. The humanist’s god is self. He exalts resourcefulness, human wisdom and courage instead of faith and trust in God. Humanism places trust in human intelligence rather than divine guidance.
There is no such thing as “Christian Humanism” because true Bible believing and Christ-centered Christians will not follow the doctrine of humanism. The so-called Christian humanism is actually Christianized secular humanism. It is secular humanism dressed up in Christianity to seduce Christians. The aim of the humanist is to deceive people to make them his disciples.
It is interesting to note that The Webster’s Third New International Dictionary defines “Christian Humanism” as “A philosophy advocating the self-fulfillment of man within the framework of Christian principles”. Someone has said, “The word ‘humanism’ emphasized the importance of man, not to the exclusion of God, but simple with little emphasis of God”. This is perfectly true because any humanistic teaching with complete exclusion of God will not appeal to Christian believers!
An Application of Humanism Paradigm
The most well know paradigm shift in teaching and training method is the so called "Coaching Paradigm". Coaching experts believe that people who are basically good, can solve their own problems. Someone had said, “Coaches are change experts who help leaders take responsibility and act to maximize their own potential”. Someone defined coaching as “A method of unlocking a person’s potential to maximize growth”.
The philosophy behind the coaching paradigm is entirely “Humanism” based. It is a perfect example of humanistic teaching. Through psychological study of human behavior it is easy for the humanist to discover that, in general, people are easily offended when they are told what to do. They do not trust people who ask too many questions. But, people are willing to tell the Coach expert their problems if he is kind to them, willing to listen them and takes the initiative to maintain a good relationship with them. So, the key to successful coaching is “Ask, don’t tell”. Let the client (or coachee) do the telling. The coach is to ask indirect and inoffensive non-confrontational and open-ended questions. In this way a person who is under a Coaching expert is able to discover or rediscover his self-worth and hidden potential. The coaching expert allows the client to set his own agenda and goal, but he is not accountable or responsible to the success of the client. Instead he makes the client to be a accoutable to himselve.
How the Coaching Method is Christianized
Some coaching experts claim that Jesus was using the same coaching method when He was with his apostles and disciples. In other words, they claim Jesus asked powerful questions but never tell them what to do. They take Scripture verses out of context to substantiate their claim.
Jesus asks powerful questions, but He also commands and instructs
A powerful question - "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy" (Luke 6:9)?
But, Jesus never compromises. He tells (not ask) His disciple what to do as part of the Sermon on the Mount:
"Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes', and your 'No', 'No'. For whatever is more than these is from the evil one" (Matt. 5:37).
There should not be any doubt that Jesus uses three ways to influence His people and to maintain a close relationship with them - Coaching, mentoring and consulting (counseling).
Paul asks direct questions, but he also instructs
An example of a direct question is - "Do you not know?" (NKJV). Paul uses this phrase 4 times in Romans; 10 times in 1 Corinthians and once in 2 Corintians.
"Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ" (1 Cor. 6:15)?
Just like Jesus, Paul never compromises. He gave many instructions to Timothy and Titus. He urged the Christians in the Church in Corinth to imitate him:
"Therefore I urge you, imitate me" (1 Cor. 4:16).
"Imitate me, just as I also imtitate Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1).
Paul, like Jesus also uses three ways to influence Chriatians and to maintain a close relationship with them - Coaching, mentoring and consulting (counseling).
An important point to note is that the coaching expert asks his clients "intuitive" questions; whereas Jesus and Paul asked their disciples "Spirit-led" questions. The main difference is that "intuitive" questions come from the un-regenerated spirit of man; but "Spirit-led" questions come from the regenerated spirit of man led by the Spirit of God.
Therefore, in the Kingdom of God true Christians must emulate Jesus and Paul.
My Opinion
I am not out to discredit the Coaching paradigm; but I am following Paul's instruction:
"Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thess. 5:21, NKJV).
It is best to look at it objectively. The coaching paradigm is based on the study of human psychology and philosophy. It is neither Christ-centered nor Bible based; but it is practical and effective in the real world system. It works well in the present World Order whose 'god' is Satan. But, Christians must be reminded that not everything that works is Biblical. On the other hand, not every thing unbiblical is not good and will not work!
My contention is that we must not Christianize the Coaching paradigm. We are working and living in the secular world and the Coaching paradigm fits in perfectly well in our relationship with our peers and subordinates, Christians or non-Christians. Even in the Local Church not everyone is a mature Christian and therefore, the Coaching paradigm has a place there too. The Coaching paradigm helps mature believers to understand fellow Church members by learning how to listen to weaker Christians in order to discern their problems. It is also helpful in evangelical and mission work where Spirit-led (not intuitive) listening is important. The Coaching paradigm is effective and beneficial in many other ways. We need not Christianized it. It can stand on its own in the secular world - till He comes.
The Antichrist and Humanism
The last thing the antichrist chooses to do is to confront and offend religious people. He knows fully well that religions will never unite the people of the world. Wars are being fought because of differences in religious beliefs. Therefore, in order to promote the New World order effectively and to set up a one-world government and one-world money system he must be a humanist. The Antichrist is a type of coaching expert who lets you make your own choices and solve your own problems, but he is not responsible or accountable for the outcome. He uses only the coaching paradigm to win people.
Unfortunately, Humanism will culminate in the worship of Antichrist. This is exactly what he wants. The Antichrist will succeed in deceiving many. But his destiny is revealed by Paul:
“The lawless one (the Antichrist) will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming” (2 Thess. 2:8, NKJV, emphasis added).
No comments:
Post a Comment