Antichrists

Antichristian delusion had begun in the Apostle’s days. Men were arising to deny Christ, to set up another Christ of their own—a Christ of the intellect, a Christ of the sense, a Christ of the imagination. Long ere the first century closed there were many antichrists—pretended Christs—substitutes for the Son of God. Every age has produced its antichrists, all of them earnests of, and preparations for, the greater antichrist of the very last days, when perilous times shall come. In and by all these antichrists, Satan is working, not only to exalt himself, but to dishonor Christ—working even by means of men who laugh at the existence of an evil spirit. He is working by means of error—pure error; also by error in connection with truth, and truth in connection with error; exalting the natural at the expense of the supernatural; raising science above Scripture; denying human evil, upholding human goodness; setting creaturehood in opposition to Godhead, intellect against revelation, self-improvement against regeneration by the Holy Ghost, worldly refinement against the example of Christ. Everything in the shape of human “progress” is welcomed without considering what it is or whence it comes. But the progress of the natural man is, after all, an illusion. So long as humanity remains unregenerate, there can be no progress that God can recognize. The one true progress is that begun and consummated by the Holy Ghost—a progress quite distinct from all that man calls by that name. l