What’s the fruit test? It’s extremely important the fruit test is identified correctly. Otherwise, we’ll be unable to test the prophets to determine who the wolves are among us.
Some Christians3 have falsely concluded the fruit test to be the nine fruits of the Spirit enumerated in Galatians 5:22-23 – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But the fruit test cannot be the fruits of the Spirit, if for no other reason than because they are easily replicated by wolves as part of their sheep disguise.
The fruit test for false teachers is found in the verses immediately following the warning in Verses 15-20:
Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. (Matthew 7:21-27)
Doing the will of the heavenly Father as found in His Holy Spirit-inspired Word is the means for testing true and false teachers alike.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God…. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:1-2, 6)
The “spirits” are the prophets and teachers’ doctrines, particularly concerning Jesus Christ.4 The doctrines of all teachers must be subject to the word of God:
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
This includes identifying any wolves ravaging the flocks with their false doctrines. The word of God—not our personal preferences, nor our denomination or church creeds—is our means for determining the wolves among us.
Future One-Man Antichrist
Every man’s doctrine much be tried by the word of God and the word of God alone, including today’s predominant teaching about a future one-man Antichrist who, allegedly, is to appear sometime in the future near the end of time. This Antichrist will supposedly deceive the entire world with his miraculous powers, appearing as the savior of the world, when, in fact, he’s come to destroy the world.
What does the word of God say about such an alleged person? Nothing!
The Apostle John is the only New Testament author to employ the term “antichrist.” Therefore, to biblically understand the term “antichrist,” we must look to John’s writings to understand who John depicts as antichrist. Anything else is bogus theology and eschatology based upon traditions of man—traditions that should be denounced once exposed by God’s word, as with all false doctrines.
John’s Explicit Testimony Regarding the Last Time
Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. (1 John 2:18)
This is the first time the word “antichrist” appears in the Bible, and there are two important points to be gleaned from this verse alone. First, note the phrase “last time” or “last day,” depending upon your Bible version. This corresponds with the terms “last days” and the “end of the age.”
John identifies the “last time” as the days in which he was living, the same as does Christ, the Apostle Peter, Jude, and the author of Hebrews. They all identify the last days and/or the end of the age as occurring in their lifetimes:
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? (Matthew 24:1-3)
The word “world” in the King James Version is translated from the Greek word aion. Aion does not mean world, but rather age, as it has been correctly translated in nearly all other translations, including the New King James Version.
Christ’s disciples were not inquiring about the end of the world but the end of the age—the end of the Mosaic age in which they were living and during which time every stone of King Solomon’s Temple would be torn down. In other words, the disciples recognized that the destruction of the Temple marked the conclusion of the Mosaic age, and thus their question.
This occurred exactly as Christ prophesied (of course) in 70 AD at the hands of the Roman General Titus and his army, ending the Old Covenant sacrifices and thereby ending the age of the Mosaic Covenant.
When did Christ declare the end of the age would occur?
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putts forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. (Matthew 24:32-34)
Along with everything else in Matthew 24, the end of the age was to occur within the next forty years. Christ declared this in the early 30s AD. With a generation being forty years, this would place the fulfillment of everything in Matthew 24 at 70 AD—the last day of the last days of the Mosaic age.5
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:… [T]his is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.’ (Acts 2:14-17)
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times.... (1 Peter 1:18-20)
The last days were not something, as often preached, yet to occur some 2,000-plus years and counting. They were occurring at the time of Peter’s preaching. Who are you going to believe: Christ and the Apostle Peter or a bunch of eschatological prognosticators in denial of what Christ and Peter declared?
These same prognosticators will be forever counting the years go by as long as they persist in providing their own timeline. The “last time” they are preaching isn’t ever going to occur. The end times already occurred during the first century AD.
But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. (Jude 1:17-19)
Who’s Jude referring to?
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, [mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts - Verse 18] turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:3-4)
Jude is referring to some wolves in sheep’s clothing who had crept into the fold at the time Jude wrote his epistle, which he—like Christ, John, and Peter—identified as the last time or last days.
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things…. (Hebrews 1:1-2)
“In these last days” depicts the last days of that generation and the soon approaching destruction of King Solomon’s Temple, as prophesied by none other than Christ Himself.
[N]ow once in the end of the world hath he [Jesus Christ] appeared to put away sins by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:26)
Was Christ crucified at the end of the world? The world has not ended. Consequently, if this verse is to be understood as referring to the end of the world, Christ hasn’t yet been crucified and we don’t have a Savior. No, he was crucified at the end of the Mosaic age. The Greek word erroneously translated “world” is the same Greek word aion as in Matthew 24:3, meaning age. Christ was crucified at the end of the Mosaic age.
The last days or end of the age is not something yet future, per today’s spurious prognosticators, but clearly identified by Christ, the Apostles John and Peter, Jude, and the author of Hebrews as occurring in the first century AD, preceding 70 AD and the destruction of the Old Covenant Temple.
Biblically identifying the last days is extremely relevant to any discussion regarding the alleged future one-man Antichrist being foisted upon the unsuspecting. This alleged Antichrist is inextricably linked with what the same false prognosticators identify as the last days or the end of the world. In defiance of Jesus Christ and the inspired authors of the New Testament, they declare the last days are either occurring right now or yet to occur sometime in the future.
If instead we accept Christ’s, John’s, Peter’s, Jude’s and the Hebrews author’s inspired writings, the “last time” is not referring to the end of the world as typically taught, but rather to the last days of the Mosaic Covenant that ended in 70 AD with the destruction of the Old Covenant Temple.5
Antichrist vs. Antichrists
Not only did the Apostle John declare that the “last time” was in his time, but that the appearance of, not one antichrist, but many antichrists in his day also marked the biblical last time or last days of the Mosaic Covenant—within mere years of occurring:
Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time…. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denies the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledges the Son hath the Father also. (1 John 2:18, 22-23)
If John were preaching a one-man antichrist, this person would have existed in the last day at the time John wrote his epistles, not at the alleged end of the world taught by today’s futurists. If John had one man in particular in mind as antichrist in his day, it would certainly have been the Roman Emperor Nero, the most notorious antichrist of John’s day, arguably of any day. But John was not merely preaching a one-man antichrist, but a plurality of antichrists.
In addition to Nero, were there such antichrists in existence at the time John wrote his epistle? There have been multitudes of them in John’s day and every age since. Anyone of any age who rejects Christ for what He is and what He accomplished on our behalf is antichrist. This is not difficult to understand. Anyone who rejects Christ is antichrist.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he [any and all antichrists] that is in the world. (1 John 4:1-4)
Already in the world, just like John declared in Chapter 2, not consisting of a supposed one-man future Antichrist, but of everyone who rejected Christ in the first century AD, and, of course, everyone who has done the same post first century AD.
For many deceivers [plural] are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. (2 John 1:7)
John is unambiguous regarding the identity and initial timing of the antichrists. If you believe anything contrary to what John stated regarding antichrists, you’ve undoubtedly been taken in by some of today’s wolves in sheep clothing.
Provided you’re not sacrificing sacred truth on the altar of your own or someone else’s “sacred” doctrine, it’s crystal clear from any one of those four passages that the teaching about a future, individual Antichrist did not originate with John. Such an alleged man is found nowhere in the Bible. He’s a figment of the fertile imaginations of a group of eschatological false prophets, wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Antichrists in the House
For many deceivers [plural] are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresses, and abides not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abides in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that bids him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. (2 John 1:7-11)
To bid someone “God’s speed” was tantamount to blessing him in his endeavors—endeavors, in this instance, that amount to the proliferation of an antichrist world view. Therefore, this prohibition would include electing an antichrist into a position of civil leadership.
John’s warning to not bring an antichrist into our house does not specify the house. Thus, we’re not to bring any antichrist into any of our houses—into our personal house, state house, White House, Senate house, or House of Representatives.
Hopefully, you haven’t invited any antichrists into your personal house. But how many antichrists do you think America has today in the Constitutional Republic’s political houses? This, thanks to Article 6’s Christian test ban6 whereby mandatory biblical qualifications for civil leaders—including what’s found in 2 John 1:7-9—were likewise eliminated. Also, thanks to Christians participating in the Constitution’s unbiblical election process7 by which they have assisted in electing biblically unqualified candidates into unbiblical positions of civil leadership, who, at their inaugurations, swear to uphold the biblically seditious Constitution8 as the law of the land.9 This is the same Constitution that made it possible for antichrists, beginning with the 18th-century antichrist Jews, to hold public office in America.9
I don’t know the exact number, but there are thousands of antichrists not only inhabiting but ruling from America’s political houses. Consequently, when you consider the atheists, agnostics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, etc.—all antichrists per 2 John 1:7-9—that have been invited into nearly every political house in America, is it any wonder America finds herself teetering on the precipice of moral depravity and destruction?
While today’s false prophets are all worked up over a non-existent, never-going-to-exist future one-man Antichrist, the real antichrists are left to destroy America and our posterity’s future, many of whom alleged Christians have helped elect, making themselves complicit in their wicked deeds while in office:
Do not lay hands upon anyone too quickly [unbiblically elect in contemporary America’s case] and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin. (1 Timothy 5:22, NASB)
If there come any [antichrists] unto you, and bring not this doctrine [the doctrine of Christ], receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that bids him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. (2 John 1:7-11)
Anyone who promotes the biblically egregious Constitutional Republic and, thus, its two-Party election system and, thereby, the “right” of both Parties to have their turn at the helm, is party to today’s antichrists’ wicked deeds while in office whether or not you helped to elect them.
If you promote the Constitution as the law of the land that made it possible for their election, you cannot divorce yourself from such complicity regardless who gets elected.
Wrong Timeline, Wrong Antichrist, and Wrong People
Not only do today’s futurists teach a wrong Antichrist, they also teach the wrong people as it pertains to the events of their erroneous timeline.
A key component in the theology of today’s eschatological futurists is their claim that today’s Jews and Israelis and their 1948 return to the Middle East to reestablish the State of Israel allegedly fulfills prophecies regarding the biblical Israelites. However, just as bogus as their Antichrist and timeline are, so are today’s non-Israelite Jews and Israelis—and that, among other evidences, by their own admission.10
The following quotations, all of them by recognized Jewish authorities, have loads to say about the Zionists’11 claims to alleged fulfilled prophecies:
Strictly speaking, it is incorrect to call an ancient Israelite a ‘Jew’ or to call a contemporary Jew an ‘Israelite’ or a ‘Hebrew.’12
That sentence is the opening sentence of the first chapter entitled “Identity Crisis” of the 1980 Jewish Almanac. Identity crisis indeed! That today’s Jews are not genetic Israelites is also admitted in The Jewish Encyclopedia, the Encyclopaedia Judaica, The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, The Standard Jewish Encyclopedia, and by many Jewish historians.
According to three Jewish encyclopedias and the 1st-Century Judahite historian, Flavius Josephus, the entire Edomite nation was forced into converting to Judaism and became known as Judahites at the time of the high priest John Hyrcanus (Maccabaeus):
[I]n the days of John Hyrcanus (end of the second century B.C.E.) … the Edomites became a section of the Jewish people.13
They [the Edomites] were then incorporated with the Jewish nation…’14
[F]rom then on they constituted a part of the Jewish people, Herod [King of Judah, who was half Edomite] being one of their descendants.15
[T]hey submitted to the use of circumcision, and the rest of the Jewish ways of living; at which time … they were hereafter no other than Jews.16
The Zionists keep telling us that if we don’t bless today’s Jews and Israelis—which America has been doing since at least 1948—we will be cursed. However, the exact opposite has been true. Since 1948, there's not an area in America wherein she hasn't become worse off.
Worse off, of course. America has identified and been blessing the wrong people as Israel, and, not just any people, but the Edomites descended from Jacob’s twin brother Esau, whom Yahweh17 declares he hates:
I have loved you [Israel], saith Yahweh. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? Saith Yahweh: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau… (Malachi 1:2-3)
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. (Romans 9:13)
Esau’s entire line was consequently cursed.
Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate Yahweh? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before Yahweh. (2 Chronicles 19:2)
Consequently, instead of being blessed for blessing today’s imposter Jews and Israelis, America is being cursed.
Today’s Jews have no ancestral claim to the land of Israel. Like their ancient Edomite forbearers in Ezekiel 35:1-12 and 36:2 & 518—with the help of wolves in sheep’s clothing—today’s non-Israelite Edomites have commandeered a land that does not belong to them.
Today’s Israelites
Not only do today’s Jews admit they’re not Israelites, some of them identify today’s true descendants of Jacob Israel. For example, Dr. Alfred M. Lilienthal, Jr. in his book What Price Israel?:
Here’s a paradox, a paradox, a most ingenious paradox: an anthropological fact, many Christians [referring to Caucasian Christians] … have much more Hebrew-Israelite blood in their veins than most of their Jewish neighbors.19
That today’s Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Scandinavian, Celtic, and kindred people are today’s true Israelites is also confirmed in the Bible, by archeology, and by history.20
House of Cards
The futurists’ entire eschatological teaching is a house of cards. Eliminate any one of their false doctrines—their erroneous Antichrist, erroneous timeline, and/or erroneous people—and their entire eschatological house of cards caves in upon itself.
Their bogus Antichrist, their false timeline, and their phony Israelites are, all three, easily discarded via the inspired Word of God.
Endnotes
1. Eschatology: the study of end-time events.
2. All scripture is quoted from the King James Version unless otherwise noted.
3. Not everyone claiming to be a Christian has been properly instructed in the biblical plan of salvation. Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:36-41, 22:1-16; Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 2:11-13; and 1 Peter 3:21 should be studied to understand all that’s required to be covered by the blood of Jesus and forgiven of your sins.
For a more thorough explanation concerning water immersion and its relationship to salvation, the book Baptism: All You Wanted to Know and More may be requested from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for free.
Additionally, listen to audio series “I Had a Dream: Judgment’s Coming. Are You Under the Blood?” Part 1 can be found at https://missiontoisrael.org/tapelist.html#T1111
4. Yeshua is the English transliteration of our Savior’s given Hebrew name, with which He introduced Himself to the Apostle Paul in Acts 26:14-15. (Jesus is a twice-removed transliteration: the English transliteration of the Greek Iesous, which is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Yeshua.) Because many people are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with Yeshua, I have chosen to use the more familiar name Jesus in this article in order to remove what might otherwise be a stumbling block.
5. Listen to Part 7 of the expository series on Ephesians, subtitled “Last Trump on Last Day of Last Days,” at https://www.missiontoisrael.org/tapelist.php#T1259.
Also, Parts 16, 17, & 18 of the expository series on 1 Timothy, subtitled “Last Days: Biblically Identified, Parts 1, 2, & 3,” beginning at https://www.missiontoisrael.org/tapelist.php#T1325.
6. See Chapter 9 “Article 6: The Supreme Law of the Land” of free online book Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective at https://missiontoisrael.org/blvc-index.php.
7. See blog article “Constitutional Elections: Dining at the ‘Devil’s Table’” at https://www.constitutionmythbusters.org/constitutional-elections-dining-at-the-devils-table/
An audio message by the same title can be found at https://missiontoisrael.org/tapelist.php#T1098.
Also, Chapter 5 “Article 2: Executive Usurpation” of free online book Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective at https://missiontoisrael.org/blvc-index.php. Scroll down to heading “Elections.”
8. See free online book Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective, in which every Article and Amendment is examined by the Bible, at https://missiontoisrael.org/blvc-index.php.
9. See Chapter 9 “Article 6: The Supreme Law of the Land” of free Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective at https://missiontoisrael.org/blvc-index.php.
10. See free online book God’s Covenant People: Yesterday, Today and Forever at https://missiontoisrael.org/gods-covenant-people/tableofcontents.php.
11. Zionism is a political and religious movement that advocates for a Jewish state in the land of Israel.
12. Richard Siegel and Carl Rheins, eds., “Identity Crisis,” The Jewish Almanac, (New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1980) p. 3
13. “Edom,” Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem, Israel: Encyclopaedia Judaica Company, 1971) Volume 6, p. 378
14. “Edom, Idumea,” The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York & London: Funk and Wagnalls Company, 1904) Volume V, p. 41
15. Cecil Roth and Geoffrey Wigoden, “Edom (Idumea),” The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1977) p. 589
16. Flavius Josephus, “The Antiquities of the Jews,” Josephus, (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1960) Book XIII, Chapter IX, Verse 1, p. 279
17. YHWH, the English transliteration of the Tetragrammaton, is most often pronounced Yahweh. It is the principal Hebrew name of the God of the Bible and was inspired to appear nearly 7,000 times in the Old Testament. It was unlawfully deleted by the English translators. In obedience to the Third Commandment and the scriptures that charge us to proclaim, swear by, praise, extol, call upon, bless, glorify, and hold fast to His name, I have chosen to memorialize His name, per Exodus 3:15, in this article.
For a more thorough explanation concerning important reasons for using the sacred name of God, see Thou shalt not take the name of YHWH thy God in vain, the third in a series of ten free online books on each of the Ten Commandments and their respective statutes and civil judgments.
18. Both Mount Seir and Idumea, cited in Ezekiel 35 and 36, describe the ancient Edomites’ homeland.
19. Dr. Alfred M. Lilienthal, Jr., What Price Israel (Chicago, IL: Henry Regnery Company, 1953) p. 223
20. See free online book God’s Covenant People: Yesterday, Today and Forever at https://missiontoisrael.org/gods-covenant-people/tableofcontents.php.
Also, free online book The Mystery of the Gentiles: Who Are They and Where Are They Now? at https://missiontoisrael.org/mystery-of-gentiles/index.php.
Also, Missing Links Discovered in Assyrian Tablets: The Remarkable Discovery of Assyrian Tablets that Reveal the Fate of the Long Lost Tribes of Israel! at https://missiontoisrael.org/booklist.php#B005 |
