The Daily Word of Righteousness

Eight Appearances of the Victorious Saints, continued

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. (Revelation 13:1)

There are three great powers of darkness in the world. They form a trinity of evil. Satan is the counterpart of God the Father. Antichrist is the counterpart of God the Son. The False Prophet is the counterpart of God the Holy Spirit.

The beast, Antichrist, comes out of the sea, that is, out from the mass of mankind. We see the Antichrist spirit whenever we behold man making himself God. Antichrist is the exaltation of self. Jesus Christ is the denial of self and the exaltation of God.

The philosophy of democracy lends itself to the Antichrist spirit because it stresses the rights of the individual, not the rights of Christ but the rights of the individual. While such an emphasis may appear at first glance to be Christian it is the very opposite of true Christianity.

The False Prophet comes from the earth, that is, from the soul of man. It is religion, including Christianity, without Christ. It seeks the power of Christ but it speaks with the voice of Satan.

The Charismatic movement of today is in danger of moving in the direction of the False Prophet. The emphasis is on the use of ministries and gifts instead of our taking up our cross and following Jesus. Gifts and ministries always flow properly from the crucified, resurrected life the life lived in Jesus.

Whenever you see an attempt to use gifts and ministries to "save the world," but the individual is not a humble servant of Christ who is hearing from God, you have there the False Prophet.

I have been troubled recently by the spirit of those who talk about going forth and getting the world saved. While this seems scriptural it decidedly is not. I do not know what to call this spirit, but it seems to me it does great harm to the saints. Not only does it bring the members of the assemblings under condemnation (because they are not "going out into the highways and byways and compelling them to come in"), but it diverts the minds of the saints from the close relationship with Jesus they should be seeking.

The emphasis on going forth and saving the world turns our mind away from the Lord and onto activities and people. I think this is more of Satan than of the Lord.

You can't command a woman to bear children. You have to marry her.

So it is with the Christians. You can't command them to "get souls saved." You have to get them married to Jesus. Then fruit will come in its mature time. Ministry should always be a fruit that comes from a life married to the Lord.

To be continued.