| 1 John 4:2-3 2 By this know you the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses (acknowledges, owns, admits) Jesus as the Christ (anointing) who has come in the flesh is from God; [To confess Jesus Christ who has come in the flesh, is to confess like Paul: It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Gal 2:20; Jesus ruled Paul's thoughts, words, and deeds — even supplying the thoughts with the mind of Christ. Christendom presumes Jesus to be their Lord, but their continuing in sin denies him as their Lord and Master. From the Word of the Lord within: "You are the child of whom you obey. Remember, every person who sins denies Him as Lord and Master."] 3 And every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, which you have heard would come, and even now it is already in the world.2 [John told us in 1 John 2:18-19 that many antichrists had already come, who had gone out from among them; who tried to seduce the true Christians with their false gospel and false Jesus. So they could not confess Jesus to rule their thoughts, words, and deeds because they preached that being totally unnecessary according to their false gospel. From the Word of the Lord within: "they did not have patience." They did not have the patience to follow the hard, narrow way of the cross that the Apostles preached; being tempted and ambitious to teach before being perfected and authorized, they fell away to instead preach Christian liberty from the law without the necessity of first crucifying their sinful nature on the inward cross of self-denial. Their doctrines quickly became pervasive and dominated Christendom, and so Christendom became the whore of Babylon by adulterating with the kings of the earth, (the Roman Emperors), who declared their doctrines to be the only ones allowed; and then Christendom, aided by the crushing boot of the Roman Empire, persecuted and killed the true saints. John later saw and prophesied how the whole world would worship Satan, following the false prophets' beastly religion with horns like a lamb. And so all of Christendom became the whore of Babylon, rejecting the cross as foolishness and ignoring the Bible's many specific exclusions, the requirements, and the qualifying conditions of salvation. See Penington's writing on Babylon to understand more how the spirit of antichrist rules Christendom.] | 2 John 1:7 7 For many deceivers have entered into the world, people who do not confess Jesus as Christ [the anointing] coming in their flesh. This is the deceiver and an antichrist.2 [An antichrist is anyone preaching or teaching whose thoughts, words, and deeds are not controlled by the anointing, which is Jesus to come into man's flesh in sufficient measure to guide and control his thoughts, words, and deeds — thus being a person's true Lord. You can call Him Lord and Master, but if you are still sinning you deny Him as Lord; even Judas called Him Lord and Master. The antichrists were believers who left them; from the Word of the Lord within: "they did not have patience." Ambitious to preach or teach, seeking their own glory, eager for income, still thinking their own thoughts, they went out as the many false prophets have gone out into the world. Even 2000 years ago, John said many antichrists had come, and Paul said many preached for financial gain as unruly, vain talkers, and deceivers.] | ||||||||