Dr Paul Allen

“And this is that spirit of antichrist, which you have heard is coming; and even now already is it in the world.” ( 1 John 4:3 ) The four passages in the New Testament that use this term are unique to the apostle John ( 1 John 2:18 , 22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7 ). The term itself is a transliteration of the Greek compound word 'anti-plus christos', meaning one who is “against” Christ. John distinguishes between “the” Antichrist ( 1 John 2:18 ) and the “many” antichrists against whom we are continually fighting today. This is how you can detect the false teachers. They do not confess the Jesus who was described in the previous verse. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which has been prophesied and which is now already in the world. There are many today who are willing to say acceptable things about Jesus, but they will not confess Him as God Incarnate. They will say that Christ is “divine,” but not that He is God. Although a sincere Christian should be aware of the Antichrist

If I sin, will I lose my salvation ? (Heb. 6:4–6) An act of sin does not cost you your salvation. There are people who teach that if you sin once after you have accepted Jesus, you must be saved again. But this is not what the Bible teaches. Can you conceive of somebody adopting a child and then throwing it out on the street because it falls while learning to walk? When we are saved, we are adopted into the family of God . We must, out of love on one hand and godly fear on the other, seek to live a life that is pleasing to Him. But the idea that one act of sin would cause someone to be thrown out of God’s family is not in the Bible ( I John 1:7, 9). However acts of sin or rebellion will take away the joy of your salvation. When David sinned he had no joy, because he had rebelled against God (Ps. 51:12). He said, "Do not take Your Holy Spirit from me" (Ps. 51:11). Even though he had committed adultery and had been responsible for an innocent man’s death, by this clea

Jesus spoke about the end times and the last judgment during the last week of his earthly ministry.1 All three Synoptic Gospels relate Jesus’ eschatological discourse ( Matt. 24 –25; Mark 13 ; Luke 21 ). Since Christian views about the end times must be informed by Jesus’ explanations regarding the period leading up to the end,2 a study of these texts is of fundamental significance. The reports of Matthew , Mark, and Luke about Jesus’ discourse on the end times are in essential agreement; the passage in Matthew is the most extensive and provides fuller details, especially about the last judgment. Therefore, the following discussion will follow Matthew’s presentation; we will refer to material that only Mark and Luke present where necessary Jesus mentions ten signs that herald the end of the age and the event of his return.  The first four signs are related to world affairs: (1) seduction of many people by messianic pretenders who claim to have royal dignity and the abilit

The Hour to Wake Up: Romans 13:11–12 In Romans 13:11–12, Paul appeals to the Christians in the city of Rome to understand “the present time” and explains that “the hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light” ( NIV ). The “night” is the present evil age (see Gal. 1:4); “the day” is the day of the Lord . Paul’s assertion that “the day is almost here” (Rom. 13:12 NIV) means that the day when God will bring to an end human history as we know it is fast approaching. Paul is convinced that Jesus might return within a very short period of time. Paul does not seek to narrow down the time frame within which Jesus will return , nor does he base his exhortation on the assumption that Jesus’ return would take place very soon. But he clearly believes that Jesus’ return is the next event in G

“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.” (1 John 2:22) This name introduces to us one of the most solemn and foreboding subjects in the Word of God. It brings before us one of the persons in the Trinity of Evil. At every point he is the antithesis of Christ. The word “Antichrist” has a double significance. Its primary meaning is one who is opposed to Christ; but its secondary meaning is one who is instead of Christ. Let not this be thought strange, for it accords with the two stages in his career. At first he will pose as the true Christ, masquerading in the livery of religion. But, later, he will throw off his disguise, stand forth in his true character, and set himself up as one who is against God and His Christ. Not only does antichrist denote the antagonist of Christ, but it tells of one who is instead of Christ. The word signifies another Christ, a pro-Christ, an alter christus, a pretender to the na

The Spirit of False Prophets/Antichrist (Deceit) (1 John 4vv. 1b, 3) In the early years of Christianity, before the New Testament was completed (AD 100) and before the first creeds of the church were formulated (AD 325), there were no official, universal theological benchmarks for evaluating Christian preaching and teaching.  To complicate matters, the early Christians were pneumatics; that is, they believed themselves to be filled with the Spirit of God, which provided divine backing for their messages. This is why Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:19–21 that Christians should, on the one hand, not despise prophecies of the Spirit, while, on the other hand, they should discern whether the spokesperson truly was inspired by the Holy Spirit. John is calling for much the same in 4:1–6: his community needed to discern whether a speaker was inspired by the Holy Spirit.  For John, however, there was indeed at least one theological benchmark: if the person confessed that Christ was the

John speaks of the “mark of the beast” in connection with the efforts of the false prophet (the beast from the earth) to force the inhabitants of the earth to worship the Beast (the beast from the sea) on the basis of economic sanctions. He writes in Revelation 13:16–17: “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.” Since John assumes that his readers understand what he is writing, the meaning of the “mark of the beast” needs to be analyzed within its first-century context and theological “world.” The mark of the Beast is a parody of the “seal of God” that the followers of the Lamb have received, marking them as belonging to God’s people (Rev. 7:2, 4, 5, 8; 9:4). The followers of the Lamb, many of whom are killed “for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God,” are descri

John describes the false prophet as “rising out of the earth” (Rev. 13:11). While the first beast that arose from the sea echoed the four beasts of Daniel 7, the second beast that ascended from the earth echoes the four kingdoms of Daniel 7:17. Since Daniel 7:17 interpreted the four beasts as four kingdoms, John’s two beasts are intimately connected. It is a “beast” (Greek, thērion) like the Devil (Dragon) and the Antichrist (the Beast). This evil trinity parodies the true God: “As Christ received authority from the Father (Matt. 11:27), so Antichrist receives authority from the Dragon (Rev. 13:4), and as the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ (John 16:14), so the false prophet glorifies the Antichrist (Rev. 13:12).” The second beast, like the first Beast, parodies Jesus, the Lamb with seven horns (Rev. 5:6): it has “two horns like a lamb” (13:11). While the seven horns of the messianic Lamb symbolized the fullness of his strength as conquering Messiah, the two horns of the counterfe

In Revelation 13, John describes the incarnation of evil, a figure inspired by Satan who opposes Jesus Christ and who seeks to usurp his place among the inhabitants of the earth as an object of worship and loyalty. He parodies Jesus’ death and resurrection in order to hide the fact that he has lost the battle against God. He deceives people with false teaching and seeks to validate his claims to divine authority with signs and wonders. He persecutes Christians who refuse to acknowledge him through economic discrimination and death. He will be defeated when Jesus returns. There are reasons to regard John’s description of the Beast from the sea as prophecy of a future historical figure, patterned on “prototypes” in Jewish history and in contemporary history. And there are reasons to understand John’s description of the Beast from the sea as a symbolic portrayal of the world system—past, present, and future, from Jesus’ first coming to Jesus’ second coming—that idolizes human authority

Jesus , Paul, and other New Testament writers unanimously assume, and assert, that believers experience distress, suffering, persecution, and martyrdom. The vision of Revelation 7 promises the spiritual protection of the faith of Jesus’ followers, but not physical protection from suffering.  The “ great tribulation ” that Jesus prophesies in Matthew 24:21 describes the horrific events of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem , a prophecy that was fulfilled in the events of A.D. 66–70. The “great tribulation” of Revelation 7:14 is not a particular period of history in which suffering becomes unbearable, but a description of the end times as a time of trouble during which many of Jesus’ followers are tested and purified as martyrs.  This does not mean that all believers will suffer extreme distress or that all believers will be persecuted, or that all believers will die as martyrs. It means, however, that suffering and persecution should not come as a surprise, and that i

The baptism of the eunuch by Rembrandt, 1626, depicting Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Philip was told to ‘Go south.’ The person who gave him this instruction is called an angel of the Lord , although in later stages of the story, it is ‘the Spirit’ who directed him to the Ethiopian and ‘the Spirit of the Lord’ who then took him away again.  Philip was sent to (and along) the desert road that goes down about sixty miles from Jerusalem to Gaza , which was the most southerly of the five Philistine cities, and near the Mediterranean coast . Whether the Gaza in question was ‘old Gaza’ which had been destroyed in 93 BC, or ‘new Gaza’ which had been built further south some thirty-five years later, we are not told. In either case, the road was well used, for it continued past Gaza to Egypt and so to the African continent. Philip meets the Ethiopian (Acts 8:27–29) The ‘Ethiopia’ of those days corresponded to what we call ‘the Upper Nile’, reaching approxi

Rev. Jonathan Edwards, a leader of the Great Awakening, is still remembered for his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Pride will kill you. Forever. Pride is the sin most likely to keep you from crying out for a Savior. Those who think they are well will not look for a doctor. As seriously dangerous as pride is, it’s equally hard to spot. When it comes to diagnosing our heart, those of us have the disease of pride have a challenging time identifying our sickness. Pride infects our eyesight, causing us to view ourselves through a lens that colors and distorts reality. Pride will paint even our ugliness in sin as beautiful and commendable. We can’t conclude that we don’t struggle with pride because we don’t see pride in our hearts. The comfortable moments that I find myself on the back for how well I am doing are the moments that should alarm me the most. I need to reach for the glasses of Christ -like humility, remembering that not