Thanks for your favorable responses to this past Sunday’s sermon.  The antichrist is an interesting subject, and I want to share a few more thoughts on what I think it means to acknowledge the presence of the antichrist in our world. There are three basic beliefs about God in the world:  antitheism, deism, and theism.

1.  ANTITHEISM – This belief holds there is no God and that the material universe just happens to exist.  There is no explanation for it.  There is no purpose for it.  It started nowhere.  It’s going nowhere.  It has no creator and does not need to be understood except as something that is material and exists.  This outlook finds the idea of the Christ and antichrist equally unnecessary.  Evil is a behavioral problem.  There are no spiritual problems.
2.  DEISM – There is a God (or gods).  He or they probably made the universe.  He has no personal involvement in its management or preservation, and he does not enjoy it because he is uninvolved with it.  The enemies of the Gospel whom John is confronting in his letters (called Gnostics) were a lot like these deists.  They believed God existed but was uninvolved, distant, and knowable only as we speculated, argued, and disagreed.  Even then we could not be certain.  This outlook also finds no place for antichrist.  Everything here plays out at a behavioral level.  Prayer and the Spirit of God are an illusion.
3.  THEISM – There is a God.  He created, manages, and loves the universe, the world, and all that is in it.  He is personal in nature.  He reveals Himself to people in many ways and is interested in us and how we’re doing.  He not only pays attention to us, but He helps us and intervenes.

             The doctrine of the antichrist reminds me that the material world is governed spiritually and is headed for a spiritual destination.  The problems that come my way are not just a result of the need to reengineer the material world.  There is also a need for me to deal with the spirit of the antichrist in this world of ours.  Other than this being interesting, why should this idea be important to you?