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righteous of today the epistle of John is applicable: “But you have an
anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write
to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and
because no lie comes from the truth.
Who i s t he l i ar ? I t i s t he man who
den i e s t ha t J e sus i s t he Chr i s t
. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the
Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father, whoever
acknowledges the Son, has the Father also. See that what you have heard
from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the
Son and in the Father.”
(1 John 2:20-24)
Remember that mere man is nothing—only with the grace and power of the
Holy Spirit, can he fulfill a Divine purpose. To be like-minded with God the
Father is to comprehend the Divine Will. To settle this matter—so you will
not be scandalized by what is shared—Jesus was the Christ, which is why
the Samaritan woman at the well said, “‘I know that Messiah [called Christ]
is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’ Then Jesus
declared, ‘I who speak to you am he.’”
(John 4: 25-26)
To this extent, Jesus
confirmed that outside of the Divine there is no salvation. Jesus was the
Christ [anointed one], but only to the extent He was God, not a mere man.
Jesus spoke directly to the issue in many passages, more specifically saying,
“Watch out that no one deceives you. For
many wi l l c ome i n my name ,
c l a imi ng , ‘ I am t he Chr i s t , ’
[they say they follow Jesus, i.e. coming in the
name of Jesus, saying He is Christ], and will deceive many. You will hear of
wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things
must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in
various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. ‘Then you will be
handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all
nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and
will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and
deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of
most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And
this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a
testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.’
So when y ou s e e
s t and i ng i n t he ho l y p l a c e t he abomi na t i on t ha t c aus e s de s o l a t i on , ’
spoken o f t hr ough t he pr ophe t Dan i e l—l e t t he r eade r unde r s t and
—then
let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of
his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field
go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant
women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in