Derek Prince - Three Different Forms Of Antichrists In The Bible
This is an excerpt from: True and False Christ - Part 1
Now, I'd like to turn to 1 John again and look at three different forms that the New Testament reveals antichrist. We'll look, first of all, in 1 John 2, beginning at verse 18. We've already looked at that verse but we'll look at it again. 1 John 2:18. Little children, it is the last hour: and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come; by which we know that it is the last hour.
So, there is antichrist, or the antichrist, one specific individual who is going to emerge at the climax of human history, but there are also many antichrists. And then if you turn to 1 John 4, I'll read just the first 3 verses. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits How important that is for us today, test the spirits. Don't believe every prophecy, don't believe every revelation, don't believe every book you read. Test the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world. A false prophet is one who has a false spirit. He's not just speaking out of his own mind, but there's a spirit of error in him which directs what he says. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.
That's one supreme test of what kind of spirit you're dealing with. You may be dealing actually with a demon in a person or you may be dealing with a doctrine. And if the doctrine does not clearly acknowledge that Jesus the Messiah has come in the flesh, it's not from God. And then it goes on: And every spirit that does not confess Jesus [or a longer version says does not confess that Jesus the Messiah] has come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world. There we have the spirit of antichrist.
So, we have altogether three manifestations: Could you be kind enough to wipe the board for me? Lydia, that will give you a place in history. We don't have a... We didn't have a towel. Wait a minute. There is some paper. Let us see if that will do it. Can you do this? I think this is alright. Thank you. Wile you doing that, I will go on. That is the reason why... This is one of my grandchildren. I'm proud of her. She has a degree in wiping black boards. So, we've got the three manifestations antichrists, plural, many of them; the antichrist, one specific individual who is going to emerge at the close of human history; and the spirit of antichrist. The spirit of antichrist is the spirit that operates through every antichrist. Let's just put them up. I will put them up in this order. Many antichrists and the spirit of antichrist.
So, every antichrist is under the control of the spirit of antichrist. But the ultimate final version, as I understand it, has not yet appeared. My conviction is that he could easily appear before the end of this millennium. In fact, I think it's probable that he will. That's my personal opinion. The spirit of antichrist. So, we have to determine what we're dealing with.
You see, that example that I gave you of the professing Christian church where they didn't want to hear any talk about Jesus, that was the spirit of antichrist at work in that church. I would say if you take the western world, let's leave out the Third World, probably that spirit is at work in at least 50% of professing Christian churches. So, it's not something theoretical that's for the next millennium. That's my personal estimate. I travel widely, many different countries, people from many different racial, and denominational backgrounds. It's not so much that I'm in that kind of a church very often but I meet people who tell me what's going on in their churches.