How can we tell if we have the Antichrist spirit?

We will command the stone to become bread.

We will worship Satan in order to gain the kingdoms of the world.

We will leap from the pinnacle presumptuously rather than remain in the humble circumstances where we have been placed.

All in the name of "doing great things for God"!

The Maturing of Evil

Daniel describes the man of sin approaching the condition of total abomination, a state of abomination that will result in the great tribulation. The great tribulation will be a desolation so terrible that if it were not shortened it would result in the extinguishing of all human life on the earth.

I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked: and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord. (Zephaniah 1:3)

The wheat and the tares are coming to maturity in the days in which we are living. We Christians have little concept of the enormity of the wickedness that is upon us—wickedness that will reach into the heavens and attack the army of God. We also have little concept of the enormity of the authority and power about to be delegated to the godly remnant of saints that seek the Lord with a perfect heart.

Daniel 8:10 reveals the extent of the authority God will give to Antichrist in order to perfect the plan of God. Woe to those who are on the earth in those days, for it will be very difficult indeed to resist such spiritual darkness! Only those who follow Jesus carefully will be deemed worthy to know the truth and escape the deceptions spewing from Antichrist.

We of the churches have supposed that God's plan is to forgive the believers and carry them to Heaven to live in beautiful mansions. This is not true. It is God's plan to make an end to wickedness and rebellion throughout His creation and He begins with those who are closest to Himself. God's Kingdom is to come! God's will is to be done in the earth as it is in the highest Heaven!

We cannot conceive of God permitting Antichrist to make himself equal to Christ (the Prince of the Host), or to be able to take away the daily burnt offering, or to profane God's sanctuary. But God indeed has determined to give him this authority.

However, God has everything in control. "Seventy weeks are determined," this is to say, God has designated a specific period of time during which He, for His own purposes, will authorize the maturing of the abominations. God will permit His own sanctuary to be profaned so He can reconsecrate it. God permits this to happen to His dear saints on occasion so He can reconsecrate them.

Why will God permit evil to mature to such monstrous proportions before the Lord returns? It is because God is seeking "everlasting righteousness." God is ready to anoint a new Holy of Holies—the hearts of those who have been perfected as they have gone through the shaking of the end-time.

God is ready to shake the heavens and the earth. Only that which is part of Christ will be able to survive the shaking.

To be continued.