The Antichrist Spirit is Rising in These Last Days—Will You Stand or Bow?
Do you know the ultimate weapon God has for these last days?
His first and last line of defense and offense in this world? It is you! He doesn’t have anyone else but those like you who are part of the body of Christ. You are the secret weapon, and being part of the body of Christ in the correct position in the right lane will cause the body to function at its highest potential.
You possess a tremendous God-given weapon. Something the devil and his fallen hordes are envious of, a power that trumps the influence of spiritual beings—you have your body and free will. I call this “free moral agency.”
It’s not just an earth suit you have. It’s a powerful tool. You have the power to choose what you will do with it. The battle lines are drawn, but darkness desperately wants it to camouflage so that it might influence you for its dark agenda. This makes the battleground in your mind and choices even more crucial. Your mind is the territory; both God and the devil are territorial—what will you do?
Questioning the actions of everyone alive is productive, but the ultimate effectiveness for any generation is to give their territory over to the One True Living God. His cry to the world through His preachers is “repent and be saved!” His cry to the saved is, “Renew your mind!” God is territorial and, as a Spirit, can only operate according to the laws He created. Jesus’ sacrifice was massive; it was everything. He destroyed the kingdom of darkness in one action, yet free moral agents known as humankind are left in the balance. What is required with the cascading darkness and the perilous times of evil we are experiencing? How do we see victory? How do we warn a culture that will not hear?
Special Anointing for Your Generation
A special anointing is required! Every generation has experienced one type of evil or another—the greater the deception, the greater the anointing sent by God.
In the case of Noah, he warned everyone of what was to come and was obedient to the Lord in his generation. Just imagine all the insults and jokes that must have been told at Noah’s expense. That is, of course, until the day heaven opened, as did the deep! This resulted in a global cataclysm of such immense scale, unlike anything experienced in recorded biblical history, that it exploded onto the scene with awe-inspiring power.
By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith (Hebrews 11:7).
And did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly (2 Peter 2:5).
Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He was a standard for his generation, speaking out and preaching righteousness to a perverse generation.
Some Things That Harden the Hearts of a Culture
When a reformer steps into a culture hardened to the things of God, it is often the result of several things:
Wicked rulers
False religions
Crisis fatigue: One horrible event after another
Poverty through famine
Disillusionment by a powerless representation of God
The display of power is crucial to counter a culture suffering from hardness of heart. Arguments and persuasions, while correct, are not complete without the backing of power. When a culture has strayed, a powerful demonstration will serve as a potent reminder of its values and beliefs, declaring who God is.
This is why it is of utmost importance that every generation receives a wake-up call.
Signs of a Culture Set Free
In the wake of a reformer comes a culture set free—or at least the tools and opportunity of a culture to walk into the future with an illuminated perspective. No other example of this will exceed the last great reformation than the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ after His return and victory over the beast and false prophet at the Battle of Armageddon. The Lord Jesus will rule for one thousand years on earth and, during that time, will allow humanity to know Him and witness His reign. Talk about the opportunity to walk into a future with an illuminated perspective!
Regardless of how good or bad one season is, we know that history has shown us patterns that repeat throughout the arc of societies, which rise and fall. Simplifying this point is the famous quote that references different times:
“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” — G. Michael Hopf
Something that can be certain is that reformers, agents of change, or those who work for God in their generation will always leave the world a better place than how they discovered it. The following is a list showing signs of a generation impacted by the presence of a reformer:
Righteous rulers
Reformers confronting duplicity
Demonstration of God’s power
Experiencing biblical prosperity
Blinders removed to the goodness of God
Righteous Rulers
When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules, the people groan (Proverbs 29:2).
Proverbs 29:2 is self-explanatory. When the wicked man rules, the people groan. One of the responsibilities of the body of Christ is to make a kingdom impact everywhere they are, even in the highest offices in the land. The devil will happily fill whatever we vacate and leave a void of our influence. On the other hand, when the righteous are in a place of authority, the people rejoice! Which is the result of good things happening to them and their land.
Reformers Confront Duplicity
Nothing speaks to this more clearly than Elijah asking, “How long will you falter between two opinions?” Reformers not only make the statement, but they also come with a demonstration of power. This is what Elijah did—he was God’s agent to bring the fire!
Demonstration of God’s Power
Of all the ones who offered a demonstration of God’s power, Moses is one of the top characters. He did so amid a wicked kingdom. God used Moses, the reformer prophet, to rescue His people from tyranny. Signs, wonders, and profound miracles were performed to execute God’s will for His people to be delivered. Our greatest example of all is Jesus! Consider what He did in front of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Miracles upon miracles, and at times, offensive miracles! One example is when Jesus healed on the Sabbath—a direct offense to the Pharisees’ interpretation of the law.
And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3 And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.” 4 Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5 And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him (Mark 3:1-6).
Jesus was angry at their hardness of heart and responded with an irrefutable miracle to come against their arguments. Among the many significant reasons Jesus did this was that He was doing what reformers do—reforming the current ingrained and hardened institutionalism to breathe life back into it.
