This Is The AntiChrist

The AntiChrist is here now, but that's nothing new!

Since Christ came, we’ve been asking who the anti-Christ will be!

To be sure, we humans are a speculative bunch. Our minds are wired to “fill in the blanks” of information we don’t know. We are curious. We are gripped by sensationalism. We want to be “in the know.” I was so concerned about myself once because my Social Security number equaled 666, and I remember praying, “Lord, don’t let me be the Antichrist. I don’t want to be the Antichrist!” Well, perhaps there is a trick keeping us so worked up about this that we miss the true deception that sneaks in while we’re thrashing about in our curiosity!

Remember, the Thief always does three things - Kill, Steal, and Destroy. And all these have both spiritual and physical components. So, be attentive!

Look at our (rather long) lesson today from St. John's First Universal Letter 2:18-29; 3:1-8 (trust me, read it all!)

Brethren, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come; therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out, that it might be plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all know that I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and know that no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he has promised us, eternal life.

I write this to you about those who would deceive you; but the anointing which you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that any one should teach you; as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in him.

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that every one who does right is born of him.

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every one who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Every one who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who does right is righteous, as he is righteous. He who commits sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

St. John states clearly that, as he is writing, it was the “last hour.” Amazing! It’s been the “last hour” for some time now! What does that tell you? Well, it should tell you that the coming of Jesus, His Life, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and Promised Second Coming all spelled the end of the reign of sin and death over humanity! Jesus’ coming has signaled God’s end game for humanity! And John knows this because the coming of the antichrist was already at work. John says there were already “many antichrists,” and that was the signal that we were already in the “last hour.”

• The real lesson for us is that, during this “last hour,” the true intentions of people are going to be revealed. There will be some who claim to be with us but leave us because they weren’t with us truly in the first place.

• The real lesson is that God is watching over His Church and giving His Church insight because of His presence within His Church, His anointing. And God is proving who is a liar and who is the truth-teller precisely by how we know Jesus Christ!

Those who knowingly deny Jesus Christ are antichrist! It is faithfulness to the witness of the Church through the centuries in revealing the true identity of Jesus that protects us from the antichrist and the spirit of the antichrist that attempts to deny the Son, that attempts to confuse the world by slandering the revelation of the Holy Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

So, mark those voices that are always attempting to confuse the world about the true identity of Jesus Christ, that attempt to deny the revelation of the Holy Trinity. If these antichrists can succeed in their confusion, they will confuse humanity as to their own true identity as persons created to be in communion with God, the Holy Trinity. Those voices, whether they know it or not, are antichrist!

St. Gerasimos and his holy life that we remember today gives us a strange story that so powerfully illustrates the amazing reorientation to all of creation through living a Normal Orthodox Life. This holy hero lived many years as a hermit in Asia Minor but then moved near the Jordan River, where he established a monastic community called the Great Lavra. Here’s where the story gets amazing. St. Gerasimos had a lion for a companion who would help the saint by bringing him food and protecting him. I can hear you now. “That can’t possibly be true!” But the scripture is plain: “The lion will lay down with the lamb,” and we humans were created in God’s image to be the caretakers of creation. It makes sense this lion would “recognize” the image of the Creator in St. Gerasimos. One day, the lion brought food to the saint, but he was not there. The brothers showed the lion where they had buried the saint when he died, and the lion laid down on the grave and gave a great roar of sorrow. The lion would not leave the place and eventually died there.

Today, are you resting in the settled wisdom of the Faith, or are you allowing the spirit of the antichrist to confuse you about who He is and who you are? There is true wisdom and eternal life in the faithful testimony of our Orthodox Church to protect us from the spirit of the antichrist that is already working hard to keep you from living a Normal Orthodox life!

P.S. You proved to be a citizen of the desert, an angel in the flesh, and a wonderworker, O Gerasimus, our God-bearing Father. By fasting, vigil, and prayer, you obtain heavenly gifts, and you heal the sick and the souls of them that have recourse to you with faith. Glory to Him that has given you strength. Glory to Him that has crowned you. Glory to Him that works healing for all through you.