In the last week I have been doing a serious study on 1 John. I was listening to a John MacArthur Podcast and he talked about taking each of the New Testament books and reading one book for 30 days everyday. I have read through the entire Bible lots of times and I think for the next 2 years I am going to try this and still read through the entire Bible in a year. We will see how it goes but it has already been a blessing for me in so many ways.
1 John is just an amazing slice of scripture. There are so many blessings and so many nuggets of information in this short 5 chapter book of the Bible. I have been thinking about what I wanted to write about 1 John and after reading some other posts on some other blogs I thought the topic of the AntiChrist would be appropriate.
Here is what was said about Christianity on one of the blogs I regularly read (str.org),
“The public face of Christianity: peace loving do-gooders making the world a better place, is a distortion of what Christianity really is: a cult driven by authoritarian fear mongering based on a suspension of logic, reason and free thought in favor of ancient superstition that hinders the progress of the human race, and gives those who claim religious authority the perfect power and opportunity to psychologically manipulate their followers. Throughout history social reform has been hindered by the religious...”
Wow, then he goes on and rails that Christians are intolerant. I guess it is ok to be intolerant of Christians though. There is so much in this one paragraph it would take days to write what is wrong with the above quote. But, I want to address 2 things from 1 John about the author of this statement. According to God’s word who is this person and secondly address what Jesus says on how we should treat one another. God’s word exposes who this person is and secondly it tears down his philosophy about Christianity.
This gentleman is in a serious situation. He is an antichrist. 1 John 2:22 Says,
Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.
This gentleman is in no worse or better state than anyone who denies who Christ is. I wouldn’t expect anything else from someone who does not have a personal relationship with Jesus. We should pray for this individual that God would open his eyes to the truth and that he would repent and turn to God.
Obviously I don’t go around telling anyone they are antichrists because it really would do no good. But what I want to show is that they are in a serious need of a Savior. If they do not repent they are going to perish. 1 John 1:9 gives us hope.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
How does God make us righteous? By paying for our sins through His death. Now the above author claims that Christians use our religion to manipulate their followers through fear by authoritarian mongers? REALLY? Well lets see who we put our faith into and see if this is who He is.
1 John 3:16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Hmm, did Jesus come down to create this “cult driven by authoritarian fear mongering based on a suspension of logic”? He laid His life down for the rebellious sinner. I am trying to figure out where statements like this come from? Yes, Christians screw up and make mistakes and yes maybe there are some Christian MEN who have behaved in this manner. However, we need to look at what Christ did and what He says. Here is the crux of the problem. Non-Christians need to take a look at Christ and His perfection and put their faith in Him. I am not going to put my faith in any man’s deeds but to put my faith on the perfect Savior Jesus Christ.
What does Jesus tell His followers to do? Lay down our lives for one another. How do I do this in everyday practice. By putting others before me, to deny my own pleasures for others. I fail miserably sometimes but this is my hearts desire. I want to pick up my cross and deny myself daily. How does that work out in day to day realities? By putting my wife and kids needs before mine, by being a servant at work, by caring for others before my own needs. This is what Jesus teaches because HE DID IT FOR US!!!! The irony of the quote above.
I want to end with a passage in 1 John 5:10-13. This portion of scripture just makes me love my God so much and encourages me in the hope we have in Him.
10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
All glory, all honor, all praise, all worship are for our King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ.
Wes
Galatians 2:20
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