No Wonder It'll Be Easy For the Antichrist to Be Loved By the World!
It's a stupid notion that the world have that if Christians were more like Jesus the world will love them. It's very easy to say that a person isn't Christlike when they're hurting others with the truth of the Scripture that they badly need to hear. Since when was not not Christlike to tell people that Jesus is the only Way to the Father, to warn them about sin and tell them about sin and judgment out of love and concern for the lost? That's the most Christlike behavior I've ever seen! But the world has a warped view of Jesus which makes them easy target for the coming Antichrist.
I guess this is why writer Arthur W. Pink wrote in "Another Gospel" these chilling words that make a lot of sense today:
The gospel of Satan is not a system of revolutionary principles, nor even a program of anarchy. It does not promote strife and war—but aims at peace and unity. It seeks not to set the mother against her daughter nor the father against his son—but fosters the fraternal spirit whereby the human race is regarded as one great "brotherhood." It does not seek to drag down the natural man—but to improve and uplift him. It advocates education and cultivation, and appeals to the "best that is within us." It aims to make this world such a comfortable and congenial habitat, that Christ's absence from it will not be felt and God will not be needed. It endeavors to occupy man so much with this world—that he has no time or inclination to think of the world to come. It propagates the principles of self-sacrifice, charity and benevolence, and teaches us to live for the good of others, and to be kind to all. It appeals strongly to the carnal mind and is popular with the masses, because it ignores the solemn facts that by nature man is a fallen creature, alienated from the life of God, and dead in trespasses and sins, and that his only hope lies in being born again.
In contradistinction to the Gospel of Christ, the gospel of Satan teaches salvation by works. It inculcates justification before God on the ground of human merits. Its sacramental phrase is "Be good and do good"; but it fails to recognize that in the flesh there dwells no good thing. It announces salvation character, which reverses the order of God's Word—character by, as the fruit of, salvation. Its various ramifications and organizations are manifold. Temperance, Reform Movements, "Christian Socialist Leagues," Ethical Culture Societies, "Peace Congresses" are all employed (perhaps unconsciously) in proclaiming this gospel of Satan—salvation by works. The pledge-card is substituted for Christ; social purity for individual regeneration, and politics and philosophy, for doctrine and godliness. The cultivation of the old man is considered more practical than the creation of a new man in Christ Jesus; while universal peace is looked for apart from the interposition and return of the Prince of Peace.
The world wants peace but not through Jesus. The world wants answers but rejects the truth of the Scriptures. The world wants a great king to reign over them but they reject the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. All these make it very easy for the Antichrist to take over. In contrast to the misconception that the Antichrist is blatantly evil, I don't think he's blatantly evil. Instead, it's very easy for me think that he's somebody who's "Mr. Nice Guy" by post-modern standards. Today, it's not nice to speak the offensive truth. Remember that the Antichrist will destroy many by false peace (Daniel 8:25).
The New World Order will seem like it's of God. It's very easy to detect Satan's followers when they're obvious with warmongering and murdering. But it's not easy to detect Satan's followers when they are subtle or when they preach a message of goodwill and peace on Earth. At a glance, they seem like they're doing it for God. But the truth is the whole New World Order agenda is nothing more than Satan's biggest deception. Remember that Satan can also appear as an angel of light to mislead people (2 Corinthians 11:4). What's even sadder is that many people will be permitted by God to be destroyed by their own delusions (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10).
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