Did you know the day after Barack Obama was elected president for his second term, that during certain times during the day, the word "apocalypse" was the most searched word on Google and Yahoo?
Now, for those of you who don't know me personally, I'm pretty open about my political views. I'm not a Republican or a Democrat. I'm probably closest to Libertarian, but there are even some of their views I don't agree with. So I've settled on describing myself as a "right wing nut job". It's tongue and cheek enough to disarm people, and it at least gives people an idea of where I'm coming from.
So, being a self-professed "right wing nut job", I get lots of political emails. Add in being an outspoken Christian as well, and I get lots of crazy emails that blend politics and religion, mostly from other right wing nut jobs, but even occasionally from my well-meaning liberal friends who are still trying to convert me (you know who you are...lol!). The one's that make me roll my eyes the most are the one's that purport that Barack Obama is the anti-Christ and that by re-electing him, we are somehow bringing about the end of the world.
Really?!? Really, my Christian friends?!? Read your Bible. Please.
First of all, the few times that an "anti-Christ" is actually mentioned in scripture is to refer to anyone that denies the Lordship of Jesus and is a deceiver. If you are actually out in the world, relating to people of all walks of life, you probably know ten or more people who would be considered an "anti-Christ". There are likely even people in your church who would be known as an "anti-Christ". Never does the Bible talk about one huge anti-Christ that personifies all evil and that will be a sign of the end of times (except maybe for Satan himself).
This, though, brings up a bigger point. The only way that the "other side", or in other words, people who may disagree with you politically, religiously, or ideologically, can be evil or the "anti-Christ", is if they openly deny Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (1 John 2:22, 2 John 1:7). Which means we all are the anti-Christ and none of us are the anti-Christ.
What do I mean by that? Though we may not deny the Lordship of Christ with our mouths, there are times where we certainly do it though our actions. Any time we choose not to obey a command of Christ, we are saying that we know better than He does, so Christ is not Lord over us. That is why we need a Savior. Until we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord, we are His enemy.
When I say none of us are the anti-Christ, I mean that no one is the one big scary monster that people often talk about being a sign of the end of the world. While there is much imagery in the book of Revelation that points to a big scary monster (or dragon), we don't know if that will be a person or if that is Satan himself or if it is just merely an allusion to something else. Either way, we should be more concerned about how Satan is prowling around now, devouring us left and right, instead of spending so much time accusing people who disagree with us of being Satan incarnate.
Even if the anti-Christ is a single human being and is alive today, Ephesians 6:12 states, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Our fight against evil is not against people, but against the "spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms". So even if there is one person who is embodying evil, our fight isn't against them, it is against Satan.
So what does that mean practically to us? It means we are in a spiritual war, not one of flesh and bones. Labeling whole nations as evil and blowing them up isn't going to do a whole lot to combat Satan. It means we should be sad that Osama Bin Laden died without knowing Christ as his personal Savior. It means that Republicans are not all good and Democrats are not all evil or the other way around. While people or groups may be controlled by evil, the only thing that really makes them evil is they deny the work that Jesus did on the Cross and choose not to follow Him as Lord. And most of all, it means that if we are to fight this war, our weapons need to be primarily spiritual, meaning that we need to become true prayer warriors. Pray and pray and pray and pray some more. Learn scripture and quote it often. Guard your heart. Obey the Lord and help others to obey Him.
And for the love of all things good, quit sending Obama (or anyone else) is the anti-Christ emails!
Activity: Take a moment to list out the people, groups and organizations that you tend to label as evil. Do you label them as evil because they disagree with you or because they deny that Christ is Lord and Savior? What specific behaviors cause you to see them as evil? What places in your own life cause you to be an enemy of Christ?
Prayer: Pray for those people/organizations on the list you made above. Pray that the Gospel infiltrates their hearts and minds and that one by one, they are redeemed for Him. Pray that God searches you and shows you where you are an enemy of the cross. Then pray for repentance and for the strength to correct your ways.
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