A heartfelt welcome to our newest listeners from Germany, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. We say welcome, welcome, welcome, and thanks for joining us. A big shout out also to all of our listeners everywhere. Thanks for tuning in and sharing some time with us. We do pray that the manifold blessings of God be distributed on your life and on the lives of your loved ones. And as always, we encourage you, if you haven't already done so, to listen to all of our segments. And again, we say thanks for being a part of our community of listeners. The beast the antichrist the anti-messiah what's the difference who are they what are they why are they even mentioned what does the bible has to have to say about them let's take a closer look amass the deception god bless you all welcome to our weekly. Contending For The faith. I'm your co-host, Bishop LaCreece Roston, along with my husband, Bishop Ronald D. Roston. We invite you to get your Bible and notebook and journey with us as we explore topics that challenge us to mature. Our Father and our God, we bless you. In Yeshua's name, please open our spiritual ears and our spiritual understanding so that we can hear what the Spirit has to say. The Spirit of God and what he is saying to the church in this hour. We ask this in Yehusha's name. Amen. Let's dive into our discussion now, Unmasking the Deception. Our base scripture for this segment can be found in Matthew 24, verses 1-10. And Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. Take heed, take heed, take heed that no man deceive you. That was his response. It's a warning that we can surely apply to the times in which we live. And now we'll do a quick review of last week's segment. The concepts of a pre-tribulation rapture and a single-person Antichrist. Originated as the Roman Catholic Church's refinal to the Protestant Reformers' accusation that the Pope was the anti-Messiah, Antichrist. These doctrines started in Italy, spread across Europe, and ultimately landed in the halls of the church in the United States. The primary focus of Lacunza's work was on the pre-millennial reign or return of Messiah and his millennial reign. And Edward Irving was the key figure who popularized the secret rapture. Edward Irving was a Scottish clergyman whose emphasis was on an imminent second coming. The specific doctrine of pre-tribulation rapture was introduced into Irving's circles following a prophecy by Margaret MacDonald. Irving believed in a version of a two-stage second coming, where the rapture of believers would occur only days before the end of the Great Stipulation, not before it began. Irving's teachings on a two-stage return were a major influence on John Nelson Darby of the Plymouth Brethren, who subsequently developed the popular doctrine of a pre-tribulation rapture. Based on Lacunda's work, Irvin championed the idea that the Antichrist was a specific future figure who would rule during the Great Tribulation. This interpretation, however. Focus of prophetic understanding away from the prophecy and towards a future to a future individual. Irving's writing emphasized that the reign of the final Antichrist and the Great Tribulation were part of the final end times events leading up to the Second Come. Margaret MacDonald was a Scottish woman who had a prophetic vision of Messiah's return that involved a secret rapture of the righteous right before the Great Tribulation. Her writings suggest a post-tribulation rapture where believers would face persecution from the Antichrist before being caught up to meet Messiah. An 1861 version of MacDonald's vision omitted key passages that described the church going through the tribulation, leading to confusion and bolstering claims that she supported a pre-tribulation rapture. John Nelson Darby was the Anglo-Irish evangelist. His teachings on the rapture and the Antichrist are separated by a seven-year period of Great Tribulation. Darby is credited with popularizing the secret pre-tribulation rapture theory as a distinctive. Separate from the second coming of Messiah. In Darby's schema, the Antichrist is a figure who rises to prominence after the rapture has occurred. Darby believed that this Antichrist figure would be Jewish and would rise to power in Judea. The rapture serves to promote or serves to remove the church from the earth, thereby ending the church age or Gentile dispensation. This allows God to resume his prophetic program with Israel. According to Darby, the Antichrist will be revealed during the Great Tribulation after the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit working through the church has been removed from the world via the rapture. The Antichrist will then be an instrument of God's judgment against the unbelieving world. Now let's look at a final two contributors on our list. Cyrus Schofield, an American theologian, his interpretation of the end times is a form of dispensational premillennialism that includes a pre-tribulation rapture and a future Antichrist. This system, influenced by the earlier writings of John Nelson Darby, outlines a sequence of events leading to Messiah's return. Schofield taught that the pre-tribulation rapture was a central element of dispensational theology. He believed that before a prophesied seven-year period of tribulation on earth, Jesus would secretly and suddenly return to call all true believers, both living and dead, to meet him in the air. The purpose of the rapture is to remove the church from the world before God's judgment is poured out on earth. This relies on the dispensational distinction between God's program for Israel and his program for the church. Following the rapture, the world would be left to experience the great tribulation, a time of immense suffering and chaos. Schofield's end-time scenario places the Antichrist rising to power during the seven-year tribulation period, which begins after the rapture of the church. Goldfield's notes interpret passages from Daniel and Revelation as pointing to a future literal Antichrist, a single individual who will rise to prominence on the world's day. According to this view, the Antichrist will first appear as a man of peace who makes a seven-year treaty with Israel. Then this event would signal the beginning of the tribulation. In the middle of the seven years, he will break the treaty, demand to be washed up and wage war against the saints. This marks the beginning of the Great Tribulation, the second half of the seven-year period. At the end of the seven years, Yeshua will visibly return to earth with his saints and defeat the Antichrist and his armies in the Battle of Armageddon. The Antichrist will then be cast into the lake of fire. The church is caught up to heaven before the Tribulation. And this is what Schofield taught in his notes. A seven-year period of judgment begins, marked by the Antichrist's rise to power and his subsequent betrayal of Israel. Messiah returns visibly to the earth at the conclusion of the tribulation. Messiah establishes a literal thousand year reign on earth. And these were the notes that are in Schofield's Bible that my father warned me not to read. He said, don't read the notes and don't read the commentary, read the Bible. And that's our recommendation to read the Bible. The last day, the last trump, the great tribulation, the gathering of the elect and rising of the dead, The rapture, the Antichrist. What could it all mean? Unraveling the mystery. Unmasking the deception. If you enjoy our time together and would like to hear more of our thoughts on mature Christian thinking, pick up our most recent current books, Living in the New Jerusalem Now and The Remnant Church. Both are available on Barnes & Nobles, Amazon, and major book outlets everywhere. And now back to those major contributors. The last one we want to look at is a gentleman named Todd Hampson, an American author. He holds a dispensationalist view of the end times, with his teaching focusing on a pre-tribulation rapture and a deceptive antichrist who will rise to power after the church has been taken from the earth. Hampson is an outspoken proponent of the pre-tribulation rapture, which holds that believers will be caught up to be with Yahushua before the seven-year tribulation period begins. He asserts that Messiah's promise to spear believers from the hour of trial, Revelation 3.10, refers to the church's absence from this time of God's wrath. He emphasizes that the expectation of the rapture is a source of motivation, not a distraction. Hampson states that the hope of Messiah's return should inspire believers to share their faith and live with a sense of purpose. Hampson believes that after the rapture, some people who were left behind will realize what has occurred and turn to Yahushua. However, he warns that the tribulation will be a time of immense deception and it will not be easy to become a believer. Hampson teaches that the Antichrist will not initially appear as a tyrannical villain, drawing from the imaginary imagery, drawing from the imagery of the first seal judgment in Revelation. A rider on a white horse who comes without a weapon. Hampton suggests the Antichrist will emerge as a charismatic person of peace. Who gains global trust through deception. In his role as co-host of the Prophecy Prose podcast, Hampson cautions against fixating on identifying the Antichrist. He stresses that believers should look for the Messiah, not the Antichrist, focusing on the hope of the blessed return of Jesus it's noteworthy that most Christian dominational dominations do not subscribe to the view of a secret rapture and many interpret the gathering of the elect to occur at the near at or near the second coming of Yeshua. Period of tribulation. As you can see, there are a whole lot of cooks in the kitchen, a whole lot of hands in this pot of confusion, a whole lot of misconception about the deception. But one thing you can be certain of, the Bible does not teach about a secret pre-tribulation rapture, nor elaborate about a single archetype person that is the Antichrist. So let's consider the notion of a single archetype Antichrist. Where do we find that term used in Scripture? How often is it used? Who is it used by? What or who is it used to describe? Right. These questions should be at the forefront of our thinking as we consider the topic of the Antichrist. We find that the term is only used four times in the Bible, and when it is used, it is used as a warning, an identifier of deception. Let's read them. Little children, it is the last time, and as ye have heard, that Antichrist shall come. Even now are there many Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. 1 John 2. 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. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world, 1 John 4, 3. For many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and is Antichrist. 2 John 1.1. As we hear the word of God speak, we find that the term Antichrist is used to describe those who deny the deity of Messiah and his incarnation into sinful flesh. It is also used to describe and warn of those who don't recognize the oneness of the Father and Son, as Yahushua constantly proclaimed that, I am my Father, I, and my Father are one. The term Antichrist used four times. The scriptures translates to the Greek word antichristos, which means an opponent of the Messiah. It is extremely important for us to realize that the spirit of Antichrist has been released into the earth since the days of the 12 apostles. If we ignore this fact, we minimize the danger of those groups, organizations, and people who possess that spirit. We are not given any details on the Antichrist in 1 and 1 and 2 John. Additionally, the discourse in 1 and 2 John is not prophetic in nature. It is instructional and of a warning characteristic. It is an instructional warning to first century believers. We must understand who the apostle was speaking to in 1 and 2 John, why he was speaking to them and the context in which he was speaking. This is critical if we are to understand his instructions on anti-Messiah and the spirit of anti-Messiah. It will help to clear up the confusion created by the anti-Reformation movement. It will also help clarify the distinction. And differences between the Antichrist and the Feast of Revelation. We find it noteworthy that the Apostle John, the Revelator, the only author to use the term Antichrist, never used it once in another book he authored, the book of Revelation. Revelation is considered the exhaustive blueprint for the end of time and the events that happened during the Great Tribulation. Yet, the word Antichrist fails to appear there. Instead, we find the word the beast, used in reference to the Acts, the modern church attributes to the Antichrist. Again, we must identify who John was talking to and why he was instructing them, being careful to recognize that his discourse was instructional versus prophetic. As John did truly recognize that one would come and oppose Yeshua and tried to replace himself as the Messiah when he was speaking in 1 John 2 of those first century post-Pentecost disciples and believers who had left the church, did not continue in the apostles' doctrine. Denied the Father, and that Jesus is the Messiah. Have begun to teach false doctrine, have become the enemy and antagonist of Yeshua. Had denied the unrepudiated Yahushua, had seduced Christians and led them away from the second doctrine, from the sound doctrine, Andrew. So what we have to understand is that when John was speaking about Antichrist, He was talking to a specific group of believers who were being bombarded by those people who had been disciples of the truth, who had been disciples of sound doctrine, but had left that, had began to deny that Jesus and the Father were one, had begun to deny that Jesus had come in the flesh. And that discourse about the Antichrist was directed to them, and it was an instructional warning. It was not prophetic. We have to begin to understand that. Now, this is going to be a challenge. The beast and the Antichrist, We're going to look at some aspects of the beast and what the Scripture says about him and the Antichrist, what the Scripture says about the Antichrist. So the Antichrist is one who denies that Jesus and the Father are one, that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. They deny the Trinity. They deny Jesus is the Holy Ghost. That Jesus existed in eternity before time began, and that Jesus was God, manifested in bodily, humane, human form. See, those scriptures that talk about the Antichrist describe people who have strayed from the apostles' doctrine, who began to teach false doctrine, and they were actually an enemy, an antagonist of Christ. An antagonist is one that contends with or opposes their adversary, their enemy or foe, or a person who was against something or someone. And that's what those disciples, they were former disciples of the truth, But they left the truth and began to teach doctrine that was against what the apostles, in fact, had taught. And I think we'll stop there and we'll review this again in our next segment. And we'll compare what the scripture says about Antichrist and what it says about the beast. But right now, it's time for us to go. And so, as always, we want to thank you for your time and for allowing us to speak with you. And until the next time, we're your hosts, Bishop Ron Rostin, Bishop LaCreece Rostin. We will continue our discussion on our next segment. Until then, let us continue contending for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. And until the next time, we do bid you peace. And in the words of the ancient Hebrews, shalom. Shalom.
