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Speaker 1: Well, good morning, friends and faithful listeners, and thank you

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Speaker 1: so much for tuning into the Bible Explain podcast this

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Speaker 1: morning and sharing a delicious cup of coffee with me.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna be talking about a very very interesting topic,

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Speaker 1: which is the Antichrist. You're not gonna want to miss it,

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Speaker 1: so stay tuned. All right, Let's just jump right in,

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Speaker 1: no small talk this morning. Let's read second Thessalonians two

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Speaker 1: one through five. I'll be reading as usual from the web.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna want your Bible for this episode, because we're

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Speaker 1: gonna jump around in scripture actually quite a bit, talking

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Speaker 1: about different passages that discuss the Antichrist. So you're gonna

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Speaker 1: want your Bible or at least read this later, you know,

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Speaker 1: once you have your physical Bible in front of you.

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Speaker 1: If you're like driving or something, obviously, don't open your

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Speaker 1: Bible and read if you're driving. All right, Let's read

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Speaker 1: second Thessalonians two one through five as usual. I'll be

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Speaker 1: reading from the web now, brothers, concerning the coming of

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Speaker 1: our Lord Jesus Christ and are gathering together to him.

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Speaker 1: We ask you not to be quickly shaken in your

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Speaker 1: mind or troubled either by spirit or by word or

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Speaker 1: by letter, as if from us saying that the day

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Speaker 1: of Christ has already come. Let no one deceive you

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Speaker 1: in any way, for it will not be unless the

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Speaker 1: rebellion comes first, and the man of sin is revealed,

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Speaker 1: the son of destruction. He opposes and exalts himself against

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Speaker 1: all that is called God or that is worshiped, so

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Speaker 1: that he sits as God in the Temple of God,

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Speaker 1: setting himself up as God. Don't you remember that when

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Speaker 1: I was still with you, I told you these things,

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Speaker 1: even those Second Thessalonians is a very small book, like

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Speaker 1: we're going to be done with it probably next week.

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Speaker 1: It is so filled with great content about Jesus's second coming.

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Speaker 1: We've already discussed some really great concepts. Actually, last Thursday

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Speaker 1: we talked about what Jesus's second coming was going to

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Speaker 1: look like, why Christians have to suffer persecution, and how

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Speaker 1: Jesus is going to dole out his wrath against the

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Speaker 1: persecutors when he eventually comes back. And then Tuesday we

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Speaker 1: talked about the permanence of life after death and how

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Speaker 1: we before we die have a choice. We have the

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Speaker 1: choice to believe in Jesus and gain eternal life or

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Speaker 1: we have the choice to reject the message of Jesus

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Speaker 1: and gain eternal punishment, and after we die, there is

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Speaker 1: no going back from that. It is a permanent thing

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Speaker 1: that we will always have to deal with. That's why

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Speaker 1: it's called eternity. And so now today Paul is discussing

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Speaker 1: the anti Christ. Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord,

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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, and are gathering together to him. We ask

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Speaker 1: you not to be quickly shaken in your mind or

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Speaker 1: troubled either by spirit or by word or by letter

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Speaker 1: as if from us saying that the day of the

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Speaker 1: Lord has already come. So that's the two verses where

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Speaker 1: a lot of people think that there is a fake

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Speaker 1: letter circulating from Paul claiming to be from Paul saying, oh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, the day of the Lord Lord has already come.

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Speaker 1: And so Paul, when he heard about that fake letter,

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Speaker 1: obviously had a lot of concerns, and that is why

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Speaker 1: he ended up writing Second Thessalonians to correct the church,

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Speaker 1: being like, no, the day of the Lord has not

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Speaker 1: already come. And so now Paul in this chapter is

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Speaker 1: going to set the Thessalonians straight because they were terrified

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Speaker 1: that they had missed the rapture or that they were

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Speaker 1: living in the end times. They were terrified and anxious

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Speaker 1: about these things, because obviously, who wouldn't be if you

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Speaker 1: start believing that you missed the rapture. And that's why

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Speaker 1: Paul writes this letter. He's like, stop being anxious about

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Speaker 1: this because first and foremost, the day of the Lord

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Speaker 1: has not come yet. And secondly, a few things need

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Speaker 1: to actually happen before the Day of the Lord can come.

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Speaker 1: A big rebellion is going to take place, and secondly,

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Speaker 1: the Antichrist will be revealed. So let's get into these

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Speaker 1: two things. Paul says in verse three, Let no one

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Speaker 1: deceive you in any way. Don't let them see you

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Speaker 1: about when the day of the Lord is. Don't let

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Speaker 1: them deceive you about the rapture taking place on a

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Speaker 1: certain day a certain time. And don't let them deceive

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Speaker 1: you by saying, oh, the Messiah's over here or he's

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Speaker 1: over there. Let no one deceive you in any way.

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Speaker 1: This means that there is a level of choice that

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Speaker 1: we have in being deceived about spiritual things. We have

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Speaker 1: the answers, and we have the Holy Spirit guiding us,

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Speaker 1: and if we choose not to utilize the Holy Spirit's guidance,

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Speaker 1: and we choose to ignore what scripture has to say,

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Speaker 1: then that means there's somewhat of a choice on our

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Speaker 1: part to be deceived about spiritual things. We shouldn't just

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Speaker 1: take something we hear at face value. Oh, so and

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Speaker 1: so said that thing about God, so that must be

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Speaker 1: the truth. No, we have to go back into the

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Speaker 1: scriptures and really read it. The scriptures themselves are the truth.

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Speaker 1: You know, especially in the modern age, when all of

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Speaker 1: us can get a Bible app on our phone, we

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Speaker 1: can literally take the Bible out at any point and

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Speaker 1: see what it has to say about any topic. Really,

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Speaker 1: there's a verse somewhere. I think it's in Hebrews where

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Speaker 1: the author tells us that we can ask God for

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Speaker 1: wisdom and that God is not going to get angry

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Speaker 1: at us for asking. So if we have a question

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Speaker 1: about who God is, or when the rapture is going

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Speaker 1: to take place, or we hear some sort of new

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Speaker 1: ideology or a claim about theology from some guy that

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Speaker 1: we aren't really sure about, we can ask God for

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Speaker 1: wisdom and knowledge, and God is not going to get

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Speaker 1: angry with us. You know. I used to be a

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Speaker 1: big feminist. I've told you guys that before. And the

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Speaker 1: one thing I really struggled with even when I first

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Speaker 1: started this podcast was the topic of women in the

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Speaker 1: Old and New Testament. I used to get so angry

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Speaker 1: about you know, women can't become pastors, and women have

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Speaker 1: to be silent in the church, and you know, a

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Speaker 1: man in the Old Testament can have multiple wives. I

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Speaker 1: would get so angry about stuff like that. And I

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Speaker 1: remember one day I was going through the Book of

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Speaker 1: Leviticus and I was really really irritated about something. I

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Speaker 1: can't remember what it was, but I was so angry

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Speaker 1: because I'm like, God, it just seems like you hate

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Speaker 1: women in the Book of Leviticus. It just seems like

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Speaker 1: you hate us. So, like, explain to me why you

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Speaker 1: treat women this way. I'm telling you. Right after that,

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Speaker 1: God just kept revealing how much he loved women to me,

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Speaker 1: just in various ways. I can't like specifically put my

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Speaker 1: finger on anything, but I just felt God's love for

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Speaker 1: me and for women in general, and it really changed

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Speaker 1: my viewpoint my outlook. The Old Testament laws were there

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Speaker 1: to actually protect women rather than taking their rights away.

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Speaker 1: So God will give you wisdom when you ask him,

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Speaker 1: he may not give it to you immediately. But if

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Speaker 1: you are genuinely searching for wisdom about who God is

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Speaker 1: or what the Bible has to say about something, or

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Speaker 1: maybe something in the Bible where you're just doubting and

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Speaker 1: you don't quite understand why God would do this or that,

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Speaker 1: just ask God about it. I'm telling you, He reveals

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Speaker 1: wisdom to you in ways that you just will be

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Speaker 1: flabbergasted by. So yes, verse three, do not let anyone

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Speaker 1: deceive you in any way, for it will not be

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Speaker 1: unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of sin

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Speaker 1: is revealed, the son of destruction. So Jesus will not

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Speaker 1: come back until firstly the rebellion comes, and secondly the

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Speaker 1: man of sin is revealed. So that would be talking

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Speaker 1: about the Antichrist. But let's talk about this rebellion first.

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Speaker 1: So what would this rebellion look like. Well, Scripture gives

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Speaker 1: evidence for a rebellion that takes place both among people

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Speaker 1: of the faith and also among the world. Let's talk

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Speaker 1: about the people of the faith first. One Timothy four

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Speaker 1: one through three. Here's what Paul says about church members

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Speaker 1: falling away from God. But the Spirit says expressly that

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Speaker 1: in the later times, some will fall away from the faith,

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Speaker 1: paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, through

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Speaker 1: the hypocrisy of men who speak lies branded in their

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Speaker 1: own conscience as with a hot iron forbidding marriage and

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Speaker 1: commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be

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Speaker 1: received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

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Speaker 1: So basically, there's going to be this big rebellion that

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Speaker 1: happens in the end days. And this was apparently specifically

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Speaker 1: stated by the Spirit himself, Like the Spirit told Paul

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Speaker 1: what was going to happen at the end times. There's

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Speaker 1: going to be this big rebellion inside the church itself

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Speaker 1: where a lot of people are going to walk away

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Speaker 1: from the faith of Jesus to go after these seducing

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Speaker 1: spirits and doctrines of demons through hypocrisy of men who

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Speaker 1: speak lies. So what this sounds like to me is

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Speaker 1: there's going to be a spirituality movement. Notice Paul does

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Speaker 1: not say they are rejecting God. I mean, in a sense,

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Speaker 1: they are, but they're not rejecting the idea of God. Instead,

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Speaker 1: they're turning away from the faith of God to follow

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Speaker 1: after seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. So this isn't

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Speaker 1: an atheist thing that's happening because atheists don't believe in

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Speaker 1: anything spiritual whatsoever. They don't believe in God, they don't

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Speaker 1: believe in demons, they don't believe in spirits, they don't

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Speaker 1: believe in any of that. This is a spiritual movement

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Speaker 1: that is going to happen across the world. And I'm

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Speaker 1: sure you guys right now are probably thinking, well, that's

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Speaker 1: happening today, and yes, it actually is. The biggest growing

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Speaker 1: religion in the West right now is witchcraft. Actually, they

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Speaker 1: are inventing their own version of God and they are

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Speaker 1: truly following after seducing spirits. A lot of sexuality is

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Speaker 1: incorporated into paganism and witchcraft. Not to mention, witchcraft in

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Speaker 1: general is literally the doctrine of demons, like it is

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Speaker 1: literally demonic in nature. And the reason people are turning

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Speaker 1: to spirituality these days is because it seems really nice.

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Speaker 1: They can kind of just make God whoever they want

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Speaker 1: him to be. Like. For example, they might be like, oh,

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Speaker 1: I don't want God to be a man, because God

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Speaker 1: being a man seems really mean, and you know, men

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Speaker 1: are evil and terrible. So I think I'm going to

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Speaker 1: make God into a woman or you know what, I

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Speaker 1: don't like the fact that Jesus said that he's the

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Speaker 1: only way to God. That seems really mean to all

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Speaker 1: these other religions. So I'm just going to decide that

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Speaker 1: any religion that you do, as long as you're a

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Speaker 1: good person, that's going to get you into heaven, because

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Speaker 1: that sounds a lot nicer. And unfortunately, Paul makes it

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Speaker 1: very clear that a lot of the churches are going

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Speaker 1: to fall for this demonic doctrine rather than following after

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Speaker 1: the true faith of Jesus. They're going to be seduced

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Speaker 1: by all of this because it sounds nicer to them.

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Speaker 1: It sounds more friendly, it sounds more inviting, more accepting.

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Speaker 1: So the church is going to fall into a lot

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Speaker 1: of this stuff, And I mean, man, is that not

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Speaker 1: the truth? For where the church is right now in

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Speaker 1: the West. The Church as a whole is really falling

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Speaker 1: for a lot of the New Age pagan kind of

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Speaker 1: ideas that the rest of the world is falling for

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Speaker 1: right now as well. So as the Church, we need

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Speaker 1: to stand strong and not fall for ideologies that are

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Speaker 1: not in scripture. That is the entire point of the

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Speaker 1: church is to follow after what Jesus tells you to do.

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Speaker 1: There's like nothing more basic than that when it comes

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Speaker 1: to Christianity. And yet the church doesn't even follow the

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Speaker 1: basic principles of Christianity. So that's the first type of

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Speaker 1: rebellion that's going to take place, is, you know, the

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Speaker 1: rebellion among the church itself choosing not to follow after

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Speaker 1: Jesus but following after whatever the world thinks is really good.

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Speaker 1: And while this is happening, there's going to be a

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Speaker 1: worldwide rebellion. This is two Timothy three, one through five.

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Speaker 1: Here's what this says. But know this that in the

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Speaker 1: last days, grievous times will come. For men will be

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Speaker 1: lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient

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Speaker 1: to parents, unthankful on a holy without natural affection, unforgiving

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Speaker 1: slanderers without self control, fierce, not lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, conceited,

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Speaker 1: lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding a

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Speaker 1: form of godliness but having denied its power. Turn away

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Speaker 1: from these Also, so this says that there's going to

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Speaker 1: be a bunch of people, non Christians that claim to

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Speaker 1: be really good people. They hold a form of Godliness,

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Speaker 1: is what Paul says. So they claim to be good people,

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Speaker 1: but they deny everything about God. They're holding a form

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Speaker 1: of Godliness but not really following through with anything. Instead,

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Speaker 1: they're going to be quite honestly terrible people. They're going

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Speaker 1: to be greedy and boastful and blasphemers and disobedient to

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Speaker 1: their parents and unthankful and arrogant and lovers of themselves.

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Speaker 1: So narcissists have no self control. They'll be violent and fierce.

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Speaker 1: They won't love anything good, they'll be traitors, they'll be

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Speaker 1: conceded lovers of pleasure, headstrong. So there's just going to

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Speaker 1: be a huge movement of licentiousness. You know, do whatever

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Speaker 1: your heart tells you to do. If you want it,

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Speaker 1: go get it, girl. There is nothing wrong with you

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Speaker 1: going and getting that thing that you want, even if

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Speaker 1: it hurts somebody else. And yeah, that does sound like today,

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Speaker 1: doesn't it. It certainly sounds like today. So I do

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Speaker 1: think personally that a rebellion against God is taking place.

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Speaker 1: I think that it has been taking place since the

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Speaker 1: beginning of the church. We can see that in the

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Speaker 1: days of Paul, he was struggling with terrible people himself,

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Speaker 1: you know, Jews that claimed to love God, but didn't

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Speaker 1: they only love themselves and their own teachings. Nero, who

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Speaker 1: possibly put Paul to death. This is the type of

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Speaker 1: rebellion that Paul's talking about, and it was happening in

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Speaker 1: his lifetime as well. So the consensus among a lot

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Speaker 1: of people is that the rebellion is just going to

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Speaker 1: get worse and worse and worse. There's going to be

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Speaker 1: a great rebellion that happens throughout the ages essentially, and

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Speaker 1: then after this huge rebellion takes place, the man of

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Speaker 1: sin will be revealed. So who is that, well that

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Speaker 1: is talking about the Antichrist. Paul also calls him in

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Speaker 1: verse three, the Son of Destruction. And here's what he does.

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Speaker 1: He opposes and exalts himself against all that is called

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Speaker 1: God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as

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Speaker 1: God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God. So,

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Speaker 1: in other words, the Antichrist is going to reject every

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Speaker 1: single God, Okay, whether it's Yahweh God or some fake

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Speaker 1: idol that somebody worships. He is going to say there

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Speaker 1: is no other God except for me, and Paul says

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Speaker 1: that he is going to sit in the Temple of

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Speaker 1: God and claim that he is God, setting himself up

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Speaker 1: as God. Now we've been going through the building of

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Speaker 1: the Temple in the Old Testament, and you'll remember what

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Speaker 1: we talked about. I think it was yesterday we mentioned

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Speaker 1: that the mercy Seat was God's throne inside the temple.

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Speaker 1: So the temple could not be completed until the Mercy

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Speaker 1: Seat was in there, right, because that is supposed to

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Speaker 1: be God's home, that's his throne room. The Antichrist is

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Speaker 1: going to mimic God. He's going to set up a

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Speaker 1: throne inside of the temple and call himself God. Now

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Speaker 1: this is where a lot of people think that the

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Speaker 1: Antichrist won't be revealed until the Temple is rebuilt in Jerusalem.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the Jewish people have been wanting to rebuild

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Speaker 1: this temple for forever, essentially since seventy a d. When

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Speaker 1: their last temple was destroyed. They want to rebuild the temple,

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Speaker 1: and it very well could be that they will get

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Speaker 1: the chance to rebuild the temple and all of this

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Speaker 1: will take place. At that point. The Antichrist will go

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Speaker 1: into that temple that is rebuilt. He will sit down

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Speaker 1: and he will claim to be God and expect people

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Speaker 1: to come and worship him. And if anybody worships anything

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Speaker 1: other than him, he's going to try to kill them,

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Speaker 1: is what other passages in scripture say. So he's gonna

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Speaker 1: hate Christians and anybody who rejects him in general. He's

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Speaker 1: going to be a worldwide dictator essentially, and he's going

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Speaker 1: to really do damage to the Church. A lot of

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Speaker 1: people are going to fall for him because he also

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Speaker 1: will claim to be the Messiah, is what it says.

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Speaker 1: If you jump down a little bit further, and he'll

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Speaker 1: be able to perform lying wonders. So essentially he'll have

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Speaker 1: demonic power that will make it look like he's able

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Speaker 1: to perform miracles, and these miracles are nothing but lies

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Speaker 1: that cause people to fall astray from Yahweh. And everybody

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Speaker 1: since the time this was written has been wondering who

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Speaker 1: is the Antichrist? And so I did a quick Google

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Speaker 1: research of Antichrist throughout history, and here's just a few

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Speaker 1: of the most famous Antichrists through history. Firstly, Nero, who

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Speaker 1: was alive during the time of Paul Tons of Christians

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Speaker 1: believed that Nero was the Antichrist, and then not too

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Speaker 1: long after Nero was Domitian and he tried to be

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Speaker 1: worshiped as God and engaged in a huge Christian persecution.

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Speaker 1: A lot of Christians believe that Domitian was the anti Christ.

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Speaker 1: Then in the Middle Ages, a lot of people claimed

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Speaker 1: the popes, many of the popes, to be Antichrist's. Martin

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Speaker 1: Luther specifically said that the papacy in general, not just

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Speaker 1: like one specific pope, but the papacy was the Antichrist.

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Speaker 1: So it was an organization essentially, not one individual man,

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Speaker 1: but an organization, and that was a you held very

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Speaker 1: strongly actually by a lot of Protestants. I believe Calvin

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Speaker 1: also believed that the papacy was the Antichrist. A lot

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Speaker 1: of people thought Adolf Hitler was the Antichrist for good reason.

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Speaker 1: Joseph Stalin Mao Zadong I remember actually growing up that

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Speaker 1: many people thought that Obama was the Antichrist. I do

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Speaker 1: remember that. So there's been so many theories about who

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Speaker 1: the Antichrist actually is. But here's what second John, verse

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Speaker 1: seven says. For many deceivers have gone out into the world,

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Speaker 1: those who don't confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh.

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Speaker 1: This is the deceiver and the antichrist. And actually elsewhere

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Speaker 1: John repeats that there are many antichrists. So essentially all

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Speaker 1: of those people that I just mentioned could have been antichrists.

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Speaker 1: There have been many many antichrists. Essentially, an antichrist is

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Speaker 1: somebody who opposes Christ and sets himself up as a

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Speaker 1: Messianic figure, So that could truly be anybody, But it

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Speaker 1: sounds like in second Thessalonians two that there's going to

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Speaker 1: be one specific man that the entire world can see

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Speaker 1: that does this thing on a large scale. He is

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Speaker 1: the Antichrist. I guess the antichrists above all the antichrists. Essentially,

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Speaker 1: this guy is going to say I am God and

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Speaker 1: expect people to worship him, and he's going to sit

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Speaker 1: in the Temple of God. Now, the word temple here

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Speaker 1: in the Greek doesn't necessarily mean like a physical temple.

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Speaker 1: It can also be interpreted as the holy place. So

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Speaker 1: we don't know if that's a physical temple or some

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Speaker 1: other holy sites, like some people think it might be

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Speaker 1: the Vatican, because that's a very holy location. Regardless, people

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Speaker 1: are going to know that this man is the Antichrist.

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Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of fear among Christians that

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Speaker 1: they might possibly get deceived by the anti Christ because

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Speaker 1: they're not going to know who he is, and they're

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Speaker 1: going to like follow after him and potentially get the

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Speaker 1: mark of the Beast and not realize that they actually

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Speaker 1: got the mark of the Beast. But it says right

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Speaker 1: here that he's going to be revealed, you know, the

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Speaker 1: same way that Paul said Jesus would be revealed in

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Speaker 1: the last chapter, where the entire world would know that

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Speaker 1: he was there. And Daniel actually says that the Christians

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Speaker 1: are going to fight against him. So yes, Christians are

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Speaker 1: going to know that this guy's the Antichrist. So I

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Speaker 1: don't think you have to fear that we won't know

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Speaker 1: who he is and accidentally get the mark of the

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Speaker 1: Beast and be doomed forever. He's going to be revealed.

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Speaker 1: He's going to be shown to the world. And just

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Speaker 1: as Paul says, don't let anyone deceive you in any way,

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Speaker 1: you kind of have a choice of whether or not

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Speaker 1: you want to be deceived by this guy, because the

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Speaker 1: scriptures have the answer. The Holy Spirit is going to

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Speaker 1: work with you he's going to tell you, don't listen

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Speaker 1: to this guy. This guy is bad news. This guy

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Speaker 1: is the anti Christ. He's revealed to the world. Don't

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Speaker 1: follow after him. So basically, I want to put all

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Speaker 1: of you guys at ease. You're gonna know who he is. So,

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Speaker 1: as Paul says in verse three, don't let anyone deceive

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Speaker 1: you in any way. I have just been having an

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Speaker 1: absolute blast in the Book of Second Thessalonians. You know,

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Speaker 1: I tell you guys all the time, Oh, today's gonna

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Speaker 1: be a really good episode, or you know, this book

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Speaker 1: has been really fun to talk about. I'm telling you, guys,

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Speaker 1: Second Thessalonians has been so fun for me to talk about.

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Speaker 1: I have just been enjoying every single episode we've been

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Speaker 1: doing so far in the books of First and Second Thessalonians,

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Speaker 1: and I hope you guys have been as well. I

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Speaker 1: don't forget that tomorrow is for the members, and if

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Speaker 1: you would like to upgrade from becoming a faithful listener

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Speaker 1: to a faithful member to gain access to the Friday podcast,

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Speaker 1: you got to go into the description of this episode

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Speaker 1: and click the link that says Kofi and that will

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Speaker 1: take you to where you need to go in order

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Speaker 1: to become a member and listen to the Friday podcast

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Speaker 1: episodes that I'm doing in the Book of the Psalms.

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Speaker 1: So for you faithful members, I will see all of

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Speaker 1: you guys tomorrow, and for the rest of you faithful listeners,

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Speaker 1: I will see you all Monday for another episode from

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Speaker 1: Second to Chronicles. Until then, happy listening and God bless