Scripture: 1 John 2 v 18 - 19: "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."
2 Thessalonians 2 v 7 - 10: "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved."
The "last days" started after the Resurrection of Jesus. We are living out the last two days equal to 2000 years since then. God works in 7's. 7 days of creation. 1000 x 7 from creation to the end of days, which includes the 1000 year Millennium. Confirmed by Peter -
2 Peter 3 v 8 - 10: "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."
The 7th Millennium is when Jesus and all His born again saints return to Earth for a thousand years of peace and restoration of this planet. Nothing polluted, corrupt or abominable will remain. Jesus will rule from Jerusalem with His Chosen Bride, Israel.
She has always been Satan's number one target. If he destroys her he prevents God's plan of Marriage for His Son. I do not know who started the teaching that the Church is the Bride. It could have come from the Roman Catholic Church who falsely believe that their vestal virgin nuns are the bride's of Christ. But Israel is the chosen nation, the chosen Bride. God knows she will be saved during the time of tribulation.
John 3 v 28 - 29: "Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled."
John the Baptist has just presented Jesus as the Lamb of God to Israel and now shows Him to be the Bridegroom and Israel is the Bride. We are the BODY of Christ, the Church.
But first we need to get through 7 years of great tribulation. We assume, hope and trust that Christians will escape it entirely. There are arguments that we will be Raptured before the Tribulation, or Mid Trib i.e. half way, or only after the whole miserable 7 years. I opt for Mid Trib but will be delighted if its sooner!
The Antichrist is rising. The lawless son of perdition is testing his power. As John wrote, there are many Antichrists. All through the ages Christians and Jews have been persecuted. Those who believe in the One True God are hated by those who do not know Him and will be condemned on the Day of Judgment.
The Romans crucified Jesus after He was captured and tried by Herod and the Sanhedrin, Jewish priesthood. There have been many wars fought over the land of Israel, the Promised Land. Promised by God to His Chosen people. All nations which want Israel wiped off the map are ruled by Antichrist type people. The Lord even determines our love for Israel as whether we are sheep or goats. The Body of Jesus must love His Bride!
The Antichrist works through the Illuminati, a secret society formed to overthrow Christianity. They are responsible for encouraging and promoting Freemasonry, Communism, Cults and the destruction of Israel. The Illuminati have been doing their evil work for hundreds of years to install their people in influential places in governments, churches, high finance like the unelected Fed's in the USA.
The agenda of the Illuminati is to completely control everybody on Earth through propaganda, lies, financial restrictions through CBDC's (the coming digital currency), rumours, wars, pandemics, conspiracies, decrees, unholy laws. People are being brainwashed to call for a one world leader to bring peace and stop wars. This person will be a great man of peace acceptable to the world.
Do you remember the charisma of Barack Obama when he ran for president of the USA? The whole world were charmed by him. Every country he visited absolutely adored him. This was a test run by the Illuminati to see how people would react to a little known man speaking words of peace and prosperity.
That is how the Antichrist will make his entrance. His coming out ceremony will be when the 7 year peace treaty between ALL Arab countries is signed with Israel. He will be a co-signatory to this treaty. He will be hailed the world over and it will last for 42 months.
This treaty was prophesied by Daniel in his 70 weeks prophecy. It denotes a week X years so 69 weeks till the death of the Messiah were accurate at 483 years from the reign of Artaxerxes to the crucifixion of Jesus.. One last "week" of 7 years for the Tribulation. In the midst of the week the abomination will appear in the rebuilt Temple. The Antichrist will go into the Holy of Holies and declare himself God.
The Jewish eyes will be open for the first time. They will utterly reject him. They will flee to Jordan into the mountains around Petra. Armageddon will be next. We will have been Raptured before this time for sure because we will be with Jesus when He comes to rescue Israel.
We must do whatever we can to say no to the Devil and his puppets. James says submit to God, resist the Devil and he will flee. Depend on it! Find a way to mount resistance to sin and temptation.
To my mind in so many instances these past few years Jesus has been separating the sheep from the goats. He is allowing severe events to manifest and using our reactions to determine our position. Are we part of Him or not? Sheep or goat?
This is the time for us to shake off our lethargy and stand up, stand up for Jesus as the hymn goes. We are soldiers of the Cross. We are expected to be united in one spiritual army armed with spiritual weapons to fight against that which is not flesh and blood. It is against spiritual wickedness in high places.
We must pray! Pray like never before, not for our own safety and protection, we already have the Lord covering us. Whether we live or die we will be with Him. Our task is to change goats into sheep. Or rather to talk to them about Jesus and where they think they are going when they die. If they believe they are going to Heaven but have not been born again, we must bring the truth to them.
The events in the Middle East since October 7 attack on Israel were orchestrated by the Antichrist through Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, Russia to wipe her out from the River to the Sea. Satan knows his time is short and is desperate to destroy her now. The prayers of the hostages being tormented by Hamas are being used spiritually by the Lord to finally release His hostage Bride from those evil claws.
Jesus said He will protect us but we must be sensible and cautious until the storm is over. Let us not fear the Antichrist but have peace in our hearts. Pray for those who are suffering and in need. Pray for many goats to become sheep.
Prayer: Heavenly Father You cannot stop the Antichrist from fully manifesting in a man because You need the world to see the Devil for the evil abomination that he is. He is holding those souls and Israel hostage and its our job to be witnesses to truth to outwit him. Help us to help them to please You. In Jesus' name. Amen.