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Is it true that the Antichrist will come in the form o f one o f the great churches or is he to be an individual? Some people believe that Antichrist is a false system, not a man. My own personal belief, after much study o f the Word of God on this point, is that Antichrist will be a man. In him Satan will do his very best to offer a counterfeit Christ. As Christ was a man, so Satan will present a substitute Christ as a man. The world at the time o f the Antichrist is to be under the government o f a world dictator, not merely governed by a false system or false church. However, according to the seventeenth chapter of Revelation, there is to be a great false apostate church in the world with which Antichrist will be closely linked. What goes on in the world at that time will be the evil which proceeds from both the dictator, who is to be a man, and the great false church, which is to be a system. We must not confuse the two in our thinking. No, I do not. When Judas committed suicide after his betrayal o f Christ, according to the Scriptural account, he went to his “ own place,” which is the place of the wicked dead. In order to become Antichrist, he would have to be resurrected and Satan does not have the power o f resurrection. While it is true that Satan is today the prince of the power o f the air, the spirit that now works in the children o f disobedi ence, resurrection power belongs to God alone. You must remember too that the devil’s strategy, when Antichrist is in troduced to the world, will be to set him forth as a good man, not as the world’s arch traitor. He will rule with peace and benevolence for the first three and one- half years o f the seventieth week of Dariiel. I believe he will be, not Judas Iscariot, but another man whom Satan will produce at the appointed time. What does the Lord mean in Matthew :20,21 when He says: “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” ? Here Christ is talking, not about the time in which He was living, or the time of the disciples’ lives, or of this church dispensation, but rather, of the .period of the Great Tribulation which has not yet taken place. Because of the intense persecution that will occur at that time, the Lord is exhorting the people of that day to come to pray that their flight may not be on the sabbath, when travel would be difficult, or in the winter, when haTd- ship would be great. By that time, the Jews will be re-established in their own land, and will be regularly observing the seventh day sabbath. The sabbath N O V E M B E R , I 9 4 8 Do you believe that Antichrist is to be Judas Iscariot reincarnated?
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Dr. L. T. Talbot
was originally given to the Jews as a sign that God had brought them out of the land of Egypt into their .own land. Is there any special significance to the incident recorded in Mark 1A:51,52: “And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him: And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked” ? The occasion was thé night of the Lord’s apprehension by the Pharisees. The account states that' all the disciples forsook Christ and fled. Evidently this young man did not flee until some of the soldiers got hold of him. Apparently he was not fully dressed, but had thrown some kind of a robe around him hastily. The entire point of this focuses on the identity o f the young man. I believe he was John Mark, the same one who wrote the Gospel o f Mark. He lived in the city of Jerusalem, he was a young man at that time, and he is the only one who records the incident. It does not mean much jmtil you begin to reconstruct the life of John Mark, and you see that even at the time he was following Christ, he couldn’t bear up under persecution. On another occasion, when he accompanied the Apostle Paul on his first missionary journey, he failed as well. However, later on he really amounted to something for God, which gives hope to all who fail at some time that they may not re main failures forever. Does the Bible state anywhere that we are to bring all o f our offerings to the local church rather than to distribute them to faith missions, Bible schools, and the like? No. The mention of bringing the tithes into the storehouse is in Malachi 3:10, and refers to the central place o f wor ship for the Jews. Christians today gather in many places around the name of Christ; there is not just one “ store house.” I think it is right that members of a local church should support the church not only with their gifts but with their attendance as well, but there are many other worthy causes that need to
be supported too. The Lord will guide His servants in this matter of giving their money as well as in all other things that have to do with the Christian life. Will Christians be associated in any way with the Great White Throne judg ment? In First Corinthians 6:2,3 it is stated that the saints are to judge the world and angels. As we look at the account in Revelation 20 of the Great White Throne judgment, we observe that it is the Lord Jesus Christ who is doing the judging there. However, in First Thes- salonians 4, it is stated that after the rapture, we are to be “ forever with the Lord.” If we are never to be separated from Him, we may in some manner have some part in judging the unregenerate portion o f mankind. Since we are to reign with Him (Rev. 20:6 ), we may have a part in everything He does, as a mark o f His love and favor to us. God knows from all eternity what each man will do, whether he will yield to the Holy Spirit and accept Christ, or resist the Spirit and reject Christ. Those who will receive Him are ordained to eternal life. If any are lost, it is simply because they will not come to Christ and obtain life. John 5:40 will shed much light on this: “ And ye will not come to me that ye might have life.” God does not ordain anyone to be lost against his will, but in His infinite wisdom, He has ordained that whosoever deliberately and persist ently rejects His Son shall be barred from His presence throughout eternity. FAITH Faith came singing into my room, •And other guests took flight; Fear and anxiety, grief and gloom, Sped out into the night. I wondered that such peace could be, But Faith said gently—“ Don’t you see! They really could not live with me.” —Author Unknown. Page Fifteen Please explain Acts 13:48, “And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”
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