This is the last hour. John the apostle has warned us in his first letter (1 Jn 2:18) that we are indeed living in the last hour. We need to often remind ourselves about this lest we will have to stand before our master unprepared. Whenever the thought that ‘my master is delayed in coming’ (Lk 12:45) comes to our mind, it is time to read the Bible again.
Well, what is the significance of this last hour? To start with, we must remember that the period after the ascension of Jesus Christ is generally termed the last hour. Since then the Church has been in constant preparation for the return of the Lord (CCC 673,674, 675). In that sense we are living in the last minutes or even seconds!
No doubt, the prominent image associated with the last hour is that of the antichrist. We have heard umpteen times about this character who would deceive men and lead them to perdition. Is antichrist a person, or an institution, or a power center? Indications are that the antichrist is a person, the human face of the devil.
John was aware that the spirit of the antichrist was active even in his days. He has seen many antichrists coming (1 Jn 2:18) implying that this satanic spirit was at play much before the actual antichrist, the embodiment of evil on earth, appears. John says that those earlier antichrists ‘went out from us and they did not belong to us’ (1 Jn 2:19). So the first test to distinguish the spirit of antichrist is that they were with us once, but left later. Have you seen anyone like that?
Second test to identify the antichrist is that he will lie about the true nature of Christ. He will deny that Jesus is Christ (1 Jn 2:22). Then John concludes that the one who denies the Father and the Son is the antichrist (1 Jn 2:22).
So it is getting clearer. But to those who are slow to understand, John leaves some more clues. ‘Every spirit that does not confess Jesus, is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world’ (1 Jn 4:3). Denying the paramount truth that Jesus is Christ is the work of antichrist. This spirit has been active throughout history. In other words, many antichrists have already come and gone, but the final antichrist is to come just before the second coming of the Lord.
A quick recap of what John said about the antichrist:
He was one among us, like Judas was one among the twelve disciples. He goes out from us like Judas went out after receiving the bread. He will deny that Jesus is Christ, a teaching put forward by a religion founded centuries later to worship an Arab pagan god. They vehemently deny that Jesus is Christ. Those who say that Jesus is not Christ is a pure liar, says John and the spirit leading them is the spirit of the antichrist.
Joining the missing dots will give us a fairly clear image of the spirit of the one who would challenge the believers in the last days. ‘Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist (2 Jn. 7). Have you seen anyone like that?
It is unfortunate that in spite of the Holy Bible leaving clear and unmistakable hints as to the identity of the antichrist, many Chhristians are still in the dark about this vital aspect concerning their spiritual life and ultimately their eternal salvation. Do not be deceived by the false propaganda that those who worship a pagan god and those who worship the true God are worshiping the same God. Do not be deceived by the narratives of those who deny the divinity of Jesus and his salvific sacrifice for the whole mankind. Do not be deceived by the fake claims of a person who appeared after a few centuries from Christ and said that he was the real holy spirit that Jesus promised. What they are telling is simply different shades of the same lie, that Jesus is not Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, stay away from any teaching that denies the divinity of Jesus and his salvific act. The spirit of antichrist comes in disguise, sometimes as a false religion, sometimes as a new age movement and sometimes as a philosophy extolling humanism. Those who inherit the faith of Abraham through his son Issac, have only one God, the Almighty God who created the heavens and earth and who sent his only begotten son Jesus Chrsit to redeem us. Do not fall prey to the false narrative that all religions originated from Abraham are one. Had it been so, they would have confessed Jesus as Christ their Savior and Lord. Indeed Abraham saw the days of Christ, says the Holy Bible. ‘Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad’ (Jn 8:56).True heirs to Abraham’s faith will confess Jesus as God whereas those who went out from true faith and were deceived by the spirit of the antichrist will never confess that Jesus is Christ the incarnate Word.
This is the last hour and so pray for the wisdom to discern the spirit of the antichrist that works overtime to mislead even the elect.
