WHY IS THE ANTICHRIST NECESSARY?
By Rand Winburn
The reader may be startled by the
title of this essay. The question broached by this present author is quite
pertinent, profound and penetrating. Yet it is one which is not asked by
Christians. All professing Christians agree that the Lord is omnipotent and
sovereign over His creation. They differ to the extent by which the Lord
exercises His power, divine right and authority. However, all are in agreement
that nothing in His creation occurs without the Lord’s consent. Again,
Christians differ as to whether His consent is bare permission, God looking the
other way, especially concerning those things in which evil enters, or is
present and active. Other Christians deny the doctrine of bare permission. They
teach that nothing occurs by bare permission, but by a positive, willful and
wise decree. Evil occurs because the Lord actually decreed it, though by so
doing, He is not the author of it, nor does He tempt man to commit evil. The
Devil was told to enter the Garden to tempt Adam and Eve, but it was for the
Lord’s greater eternal purpose: that He might reveal His grace in Christ Jesus
to the fallen Elect. To the fallen non-elect His eternal purpose was to reveal
His righteous judgment and condemnation for their sin, (Isaiah 45: 7; Job 1:
6-12; Genesis 50:20; Romans 9:21-23). This present writer will explain in this
essay the wise purpose of God in decreeing the existence of that ultimate evil,
the Antichrist.
THE EVIL OF MODERN-DAY CHRISTIANITY
There is an evil permeating
professing non-Roman Catholic Christianity in the English-speaking world. This
evil has been increasing for the past two hundred years and shows no signs of
abating. What was once viewed the standard orthodox Protestant position
regarding the prophetic interpretation of the Scriptures has today been nearly
extinguished by those calling themselves ‘Protestant,’ ‘Reformed,’ ‘Puritan,’
and ‘Evangelical.’ The Historical-Continuous School of prophetic interpretation
has been replaced by the Futurist, Preterist and Idealist schools. Simply
stated, the Historical school has viewed the Revelation as the ongoing,
continuous history of the Lord’s Elect Church from the days of the Apostle John
through the centuries comprising the rise, reign and rule of the Antichrist and
his false church, even until the Second Coming of Christ in Judgment. We are
then given a glimpse into what is to occur after the Judgments of Christ, when
eternity is opened up to us. All but the Historical school place the Antichrist
outside the Church, whereas the Historical school recognizes the Antichrist in
the midst of the professing, visible Christian Church. This is no small
disagreement. One must be right, the other wrong. Because the issue of the
Antichrist is prophetic, those in leadership holding teaching and/or pastoring
offices and who prophesy erroneously, no matter how sincere, are prophesying
falsely. Thus, they are false prophets. False prophets are liars. Liars are not
written in the Lamb’s book of life, nor are they admitted into New Jerusalem to
partake of the tree of life should they continue in their lies. Instead, their
end is the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. (Rev. 21:8, 27; Rev.
22:15)
The anti-Historicist schools of
interpretation either place the Revelation in the first century, Nero
being the Antichrist; or in the unknown, undetermined, but always soon-coming
future, wherein they allege a non-Christian world dictator is destined to be
the Antichrist at the very end of the world; or they allow the Revelation to speak in general, non-specific terms of the devil’s work against the Church
throughout history, the devil himself being the Antichrist.
But these anti-Historical
interpretations are not the interpretations the Lord’s people under persecution,
torture, threat of, and ultimately death, believed or taught. Instead, to their
last dying breath they confessed the historical Pope of Rome was the very head
of Antichrist, his historical members the body of Antichrist, and his
historical false church, Mystery Babylon, the great whore, the mother of all
harlots. This truth is evidenced in numerous Inquisitional records whereby the
‘heretics’ testimonies were recorded for posterity. These records have been
translated and published for all the world to read. Martyrologies from the
Reformation era are also plentiful and readily available for all to study. A
common doctrinal error claimed against the ‘heretics’ was that of denying the
real presence of Christ’s literal Body, Blood, Soul & Divinity in the Eucharist.
Another charge against them was their refusal to submit to the authority of the
Roman Pontiff as sovereign head of the Church on earth. From here the list of
so-called heresies goes on and on.
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