The Greek prefix "anti" not only means "in opposition to" but also "in the place of." The antichrist spirit opposes Christ under the pretense of representing him.
THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST IS AMONG US.
THIS MESSAGE IS FOR ALL CHRISTIANS WHO REFUSE TO RECOGNIZE THE IDOLATROUS PRACTICES BROUGHT INTO YOUR "CHRISTIAN" WORLD BY THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
First and foremost, I do not believe that it is any stretch for me to say that the vast majority of you have never read the bible through even ONE TIME, let alone see bible study as an ONGOING LIFESTYLE and practice as a disciple. You feel quite confident that weekly or twice-weekly church attendance is more than sufficient to give you a good solid foundation in bible knowledge. THAT'S YOUR FIRST MISTAKE. How can I be so confident as to put forth this allegation? Because if you were all that familiar with the bible, you would know that the overwhelming evidence shows that what brought God's wrath upon the children of Israel faster than any other transgression was IDOLATRY. You would KNOW how ABOMINABLE and DETESTABLE this is to a Holy God, and therefore you would not want to do anything to offend him, especially through words and actions that would even REMIND him of idolatry. Yet you do - and you seem to have NO PROBLEM with it at all. "After all...", they say, "It's not done with any worship of idols and it's just a part of our culture - a way of having fun." Or the other classic response: "Well, the origin of this holiday may have been paganistic, but that's because the Church adopted these rituals so as to more easily win converts." OH, WHAT A PILE OF SPIRITUAL TRASH THAT IS!
I'm gonna take liberties here, not only to quote what two very astute believers said about such things, but also what I have likened this attitude to. I quote my friend Yehuda (a Jewish believer) on this topic of Christians continuing to embrace and find justification for pagan holidays and the customs that go with them:
"Sadly when one is so attached to traditions and customs we tend to be willingly blind to the truth of the matter and make excuses to keep hold of our sacred cows. Paganism cannot be redeemed and used for good. Christmas will always be the birthday of Tammuz, Saternalia, Mithrah and never that of our Messiah. Similarly the symbol for the heart. Why do we have to draw it to "show" our love anyway? Why can't we write it, or better yet show it. No, it is entirely possible to live free from paganistic entrapments. The only thing we can "take back" from the devil was that which was originally ours take for instance the rainbow. Homosexuals are using it for their cause but it G-d originally gave it to us through Noah. Lights are used at X-mas time to call back the stag god of spring, but we had a "Festival of Lights" way before pagans did. If it was originally ours, use it. If it is pagan in origin, especially to symbolize sex and orgies, I say we refuse to use it. You cannot redeem that which was satanic and pagan in origin."(Friday, February 16, 2007)
Also a quote by Godsman (a Christian minister of the gospel):
"The problem with telling MOST of the Church the truth about what they really HOLD TO THEIR HEARTS AS TRUTH OR EVEN FUN TO DO, IS the usual line of excuses INSTEAD of "I repent of this Idol Worship, and vow to NEVER TOUCH IT AGAIN!" This is the sad state of the Church world in bed with the world, but rest assured the REMNANT WILL KEEP SOUNDING THE ALARMS AND WARN THEM ANYWAY, THAT'S OUR JOB!"(Friday, February 16, 2007)
Now it's my turn:
"Taking advantage of every opportunity" is a lame excuse. Shall we follow in the footsteps of the Roman Catholic Church and continue to "dress up" those things which are, in the sight of God, detestable? If you put glitter and sequins on dog doo and somehow mask the odor, does this make it somehow less than dog doo? Why don't we go a step further and put icing on it with chocolate sprinkles? Will we then feed it to our child, focusing on the icing and sprinkles and ignoring the dog doo beneath? It is ludicrous to think that God needs our skillful and cunning "assistance" in spreading his message using worldly means. Is his arm shortened that it cannot save?
"Y'shua said, 'If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.' It is little wonder why so FEW there be that FIND the strait (stringent) gate and the narrow way to enter into the kingdom - so much other than Y'shua is being lifted up in his stead. I wept the other night, Philip. After reading much of what I've seen circulating in the "Christian" sector, I saw in my mind a huge lump of leavened dough. Though I could not see anything but the lump of leavened dough, I knew that buried underneath it was the truth of the Word of God. I cried unto the LORD and said, "God - they cover you up with so many other things that you have become buried in all they say and do. How will the world ever see you when they cover you up with nonsense? It's as if you've vanished altogether." This was very grievous to me, and it has been for a very long time. (Thursday, February 15, 2007)
I posted all of that to say this: you, the readers I qualified as this message being for, have adopted the ways of the spirit of antichrist. You resemble a follower of the pope more than a follower of Y'shua (Jesus). Y'shua was a Jew and you've got to get a grip on that part of reality. His sabbath was what we call Saturday (Shabbat = sabbath = "Saturday" in Hebrew), not Sunday. And the sabbath didn't change after the resurrection. The Catholic church "changed" it - this is rooted in the sun goddess worship, hence the name, "Sunday." Now check this out:
You have no problem doing Easter, yet you won't celebrate Y'shua our PASSOVER. It's time to RETURN to a more God-honoring feast!
You celebrate Christmas and see no problem with this, even though it is full of idolatrous symbolism (your Christmas tree and it's round bulbs on Dec. 25th) but you won't celebrate Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, when Y'shua was likely born and on which day he will likely return.
You continue to "have to do something" for Halloween, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Lent, etc. and these ALL are holidays and traditions emanating from the Roman Catholic Church! Let me quote again something Yehuda said because IT REALLY IS TRUE!
"It is entirely possible to live free from paganistic entrapments."
But you'll never know it unless and until you DO IT. The only thing I'm still having to deal with is the Sunday through Saturday thing (all of the days of the week venerating false gods) and the January through December thing (same thing.) That's probably one of the reasons I'd like to move to Israel. It would be so nice to be in a place that KNOWS shabbat is SHABBAT, and that "the evening and the morning were the first day" and have the months named as God named them. To be in a place where I would NOT be despised for wanting to eat kosher and to keep shabbat, and to follow God's laws (not man's traditions) to the best of my ability. God never did away with the law - he lived it, obeyed it, and taught it, showing us that his yoke is indeed easy and his burden light! It's really not that hard to follow the laws of God and to keep his commandments!
So what's it gonna be? God's way or Rome's way? God's way or your way? Don't tell me or anyone else you'd give your life rather than to renounce him until you can show me that you have no problem casting off these needless and, might I add, God-dishonoring traditions and customs of yours. Choose ye this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve YHWH (the LORD).
Shalom.
Photo source: Chick Publications, Inc.
