Meet the Antichrist Part Three

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Meet the Antichrist
Part Three

By John of AllFaith © 7.21.08

The Great Falling Away

First let me acknowledge that many of my blog friends may find this entry too much of the same thing I keep talking about. That's because this study is being written for my website more than for my blogs (in other words I don't feel as constrained about length). I believe it is vital when seeking to understand the coming Rex Mundi to understand the context of his appearance. This section on the Great Falling Away is an essential part of that context.

When I finish writing this study I plan to offer a synopsis of the info presented here as the final part for those who don't wish to read all this.

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The Great Falling Away:

The revelation of the coming Antichrist will be one of the most important signs that the end of the age has arrived.

According to this section of scripture (II Thessalonians 2), certain events must precede the Rex Mundi's appearance: "For that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first..."

What is this falling away? We'll look more deeply into this topic in my study on the Seven Churches, however a basic understanding of this is an important key to identifying the Antichrist. For now then, in the Book of the Revelation, the Apostle John is shown the future history of the Christian Church. This history is presented through seven church periods that are typified as seven historic churches (Rev 2:1-3:22). While it is true that these were literal churches of the period, each of them represents a period of church history in the prophecies. This interpretation is commonly held among people who study the prophecies. Again, this is discussed here

In our present study our interest is with the seventh or final period, signified by the church of Laodicea. This period is discussed from Revelation 3:14 to the end of the chapter.

The Prophecy of the Seven Churches begins with the fading glory and authority of the ancient church as it reaches the End times and is finally "vomited out."

The sixth church period (which ended circa 1913 by my calculations), was known as the church of Philadelphia. That age allowed false doctrine to erode its purity and yet within that period many people remained faithful and the overall health of the Church was still acceptable although quickly waning. Throughout the Church Age certain spiritual viruses were passed on generation after generation. These spiritual infections included the acceptance of certain critical false doctrines inherited from Philadelphia's predecessor Sardis and so on.

Spiritually speaking the Church at large, "the Body of Christ," was gradually devolving and becoming more and more diseased as these false doctrines were allowed to incubate. Of those in this period who had gone awry we are told,

"Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie… ".

Due to the rising tide of anti-Semitism I should probably point out that the Jews are the Elect of God. This reference is speaking of people who claim they are are God when they are not, when they are actually serving the New World Order of Lucifer. Of such people the prophets warn,

Romans 10:2 2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

Lucifer is the father of lies and hypocrisy and he has successfully wormed his way into control of the Nicean Church in all of its myriad forms. From early in the Church's history what John referred to as the Nicolaitane heresies were formally adopted and passed through the Believers at counsels such as Nicea. These Nicolaitane heresies are now accepted by most Christians as biblically sound, even as most Christians have now abandoned the textually solid King James Version (based on the Textus Receptus) and replaced it with New World Order versions like the New International Version (NIV) and so on. For more on these pseudo bible visit my Which Bible study.

During this Laodecian age the doctrine of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture has lulled a large percentage of Christians into deep and apathetic slumber. This is no coincidence. I discuss this new doctrine elsewhere. This is all related to the rise of the Beast. Many of those Christians who expect to be raptured before his reign begins are actually rejoicing as the new technologies and realities proclaim his rise. We are not here to escape, we are here to oppose him!

The Global Church has largely been contaminated by embracing Lucifer's doctrines through false teachings, anti-scriptures like the NIV, hypocrisy, the casting of stones, ignorance, spiritual apathy, lack of independent Bible study and a general lack of devotion to the things the followers received from Master Y'shua and his direct disciples. This apathy is the essence of Laodecian Christianity... and was foretold by the prophets.

These falsities were then passed on generation by generation as sound doctrine and spiritual principles thus infecting more and more of the Church with heresy and false doctrine. They were not "true Jews," which is to say, they were not holding to the ways of the God of Israel as presented by Master Y'shua. As we pass through the seven ages of the Church, the Church gradually became more and more heretical until eventually the teachings of Master Y'shua were largely lost.

As the present church age of Laodicea became established, as the final church age or period began, the situation became more desperate. In the earlier church ages there were always those individuals who were 'of the synagogue of Satan' but they were the minority. Master Y'shua refers to these people in his parable about the wheat and the tares (Matthew 23). As the Laodicean period continues to advance the Church is gradually becoming more and more hypocritical and lethargic, less like the early church. The tares are now far outnumbering the wheat and finding 'true Jews' among the Church is becoming increasingly difficult:

Revelation 3:14: And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

This is the "Great Falling Away" spoken of by Prophet Paul in II Thessalonians above. Those who "repent" and hold firm to the God of Israel will still be accepted (Rev 3:20-22), however the majority of the modern Laodicean Church will not do this. Most Christians will maintain the Nicean or Nicolaitane form of Christianity as it reaches it zenith under the leadership of the False Prophet (Rev 16:13). This falling away must come first (and it is currently under way), and then the Antichrist will be revealed. The Church isn't going anywhere as the prophets make clear.

Following the seven year reign of the world leader, the true Moshiach will come and redeem Israel and thereby the world. We see therefore several specific prophecies that the Christian Church of the Last Days will be marred in hypocrisy, greed, judgementalism and an overall lack of faith and obedience to God. We also see clear references in the prophecies that throughout the Seven Years followers of Master Y'shua will be persecuted and murdered. Again, I discuss the rapture doctrine elsewhere. The One God is therefore now turning away from the Church just as John, Master Y'shua and Paul foretold.

According to the Bible the Jews, the physical and spiritual descendants of Abraham and Sara through their sons, are the eternally Chosen People of God. Everything in the Bible concerns the Jews and God's dealings with them. They are the KEY. When Moshiach comes to save the world from certain destruction, it will be to rescue the Jews that he will come:

Matt 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

The benefits of this divine intervention for the rest of humanity will be secondary. For reasons I present elsewhere, for a time the eternally Chosen People of God were sent into exile, into the Diaspora. When Jerusalem and its holy temple were destroyed in 70 CE, not only did the Jews go into almost complete exile, God Himself accepted a type of banishment and dispersed among them as well and the Holy City was handed over to the Gentiles until such time that God chose to restore Jerusalem to Israel. In 1948/1967 HaShem returned much of Eretz Israel to His people:

"…the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will."

That time arrived in May of 1948. Prophet Paul explains that during the period of Israel's exile, God 'grafted' onto the Tree of Israel new branches. These were the mainly Gentile disciples of Master Y'shua. These Gentiles did not and indeed could not ever replace Israel as the Wife of God:

Isaiah 54:5: For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.

The Holy One of Israel is the God of the whole world, the Bridegroom of the Church, but the Husband of Israel. As the prophets foretold, the Church is now being cut off but Israel remains forever:

Romans 11:6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompense unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.
29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:

What has this got to do with identifying the Antichrist?

Everything!

When Master Y'shua of Nazareth, the son of the teenage Jewish maiden Miriam, called Israel to repentance, his message was rejected by most of his people. What this message was and why it was rejected is a topic best left for another study. However understand that in 70 CE Master Y'shua's Jewish and Gentile followers heeded his warning (Matt 24:15-20) and fled Jerusalem between the invasions of Cestius and Titus. According to accounts, Cestius was prepared to enter the Holy City with more than ample soldiery for total victory but then for some still unknown reason he turned and retreated. The Non-Nazarene Jewish defenders of the city (ie those who did not heed Master Y'shua's warnings) rushed after the troops and the Nazarenes (the followers of Master Y'shua) took the opportunity to flee the area based upon the Master's prophecy (at Matt 24:1-3).

These Nazarenes or early followers of the Way found refuge in the city of Pella in Perea. Shortly afterwards Titus attacked and destroyed the Holy City and its Temple leaving more than a million dead in his wake. As Prophet Micah had predicted:

Micah 3:1 And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
2 Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;
3 Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.
4 Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.
5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.
6 Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.
7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.
8 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.
9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.
12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.

When Titus was finished, Holy Zion had been plowed as a field, and Jerusalem became like a garbage heap and so it remained until the reestablishment of the nation of Israel in 1948/1967. The Jews Took No Ones Land

Now, there are again those who would deny the Holy City to the Jews, who would drive them into the sea as the leader of Iran keeps threatening (or that, "Israel must be wiped off the map"):

"They say it is not possible to have a world without the United States and Zionism. But you know that this is a possible goal and slogan...... When our dear Imam [Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Iranian revolution] said that the regime must be removed, many of those who claimed to be politically well-informed said it was not possible. All the corrupt governments were in support of the regime when Imam Khomeini started his movement. ... But our people resisted and it is 27 years now that we have survived without a regime dependent on the United States. The tyranny of the East and the West over the world should have to end, but weak people who can see only what lies in front of them cannot believe this. Who would believe that one day we could witness the collapse of the Eastern Empire? But we could watch its fall in our lifetime. And it collapsed in a way that we have to refer to libraries because no trace of it is left. Imam [Khomeini] said Saddam must go and he said he would grow weaker than anyone could imagine. Now you see the man who spoke with such arrogance ten years ago that one would have thought he was immortal, is being tried in his own country in handcuffs and shackles... Our dear Imam said that the occupying regime must be wiped off the map and this was a very wise statement. We cannot compromise over the issue of Palestine. Is it possible to create a new front in the heart of an old front. This would be a defeat and whoever accepts the legitimacy of this regime [Israel] has in fact, signed the defeat of the Islamic world. Our dear Imam targeted the heart of the world oppressor in his struggle, meaning the occupying regime. I have no doubt that the new wave that has started in Palestine, and we witness it in the Islamic world too, will eliminate this disgraceful stain from the Islamic world."(source: www.nytimes.com, based on a publication of 'Iranian Students News Agency' (ISNA) --

Yet in the fullness of time the real Moshiach will come and through him HaShem will save His dear wife, people Israel. That day is dawning but is not quite here yet...

Resolving this conflict will a prime concern of the coming Rex Mundi.

For our present purposes, note that the Rex Mundi cannot come to power until this "cutting off" of the grafted on branches, this "falling away" of the Laodicean Church takes place. This then is a key event in the prophetic time table!

Around 1948 when Israel was established the Laodicean church reached critical mass and began to wither on the vine. Today of course there remain Christians who are genuinely devoted to the God of Israel according the Light they have been granted, but their numbers are steadily dwindling as Secular Humanism becomes the defacto state religion of every Western and many Eastern nations. India for instance is currently, sadly, abandoning the Sanatana Dharma as never before in its vast history. The secularization of the world has been accelerating rapidly since the end of World War II and the return of Israel as a nation. This view is completely harmonious with the prophets and explains many points not otherwise understood.

While Israel remains a largely secular state today, coming events will inspire the Jewish people to call upon the Name of HaShem as the prophets foretell:

Isa 66:5 Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.
6 A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompense to his enemies.
7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.

Prophet Paul references this when he says:

Romans 11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

Some of my readers may feel I have harped on this point too long, but it is incredibly important to understand. The Antichrist will arise at the Last Days as a final attempt to establish a global Luciferian Kingdom and prevent the establishment of the Theocracy promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Christian Church, the Muslim Ummah and even the majority of Jews will accept him as the Moshiach according to their own terminology...

They will ALL be deceived!