Discerning the anti-Christ spirit.

Believers, the spirit of the end-times is not anti-God.  People do bad things (e.g kill) in the name of God. The spirit of the end-times is anti-Christ. This spirit works at removing the believer's eyes, heart and mind from Christ in the equation of his salvation (including salvation from sinful habits, oppression, disease, hell, all ills) by telling him that it is his own obedience that will make him right with God, reign in life and earn him eternal life and not Christ's obedience (See Romans 5:19.)

This is why in the church today, many feel that they cannot be free from the enemy's oppression, receive from God or see the kingdom of God unless they fast, sow a seed, stop sinning by sheer determination, bathe with Psalms water, look morose, spend days on some mountain, wear frumpy clothing with no face paint, carry a mike to preach in southern Kaduna to prove to God that they mean business, etc, and keep the Ten Commandments.  Wonderful as these things are, they cannot help anyone when it comes to getting right with God (Romans 3:20) or enjoying His blessings which are freely given with Christ, according to Romans 8:32. In fact, doing these things is how to get cut off from Christ according to Galatians 5:4 -

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

Yet many preachers actively preach obedience to the Law of Moses and tell the flock that it is by their fasts, seeds and ability to keep the Ten Commandments that they are made righteous/God blesses and saves them, even when the bible says no one can ever made righteous in God's sight by doing what the Law commands (Romans 3:20) and Romans 8:32 says "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" 

Notice that for this group, their own works are their salvation and not Christ! Christ only appears in the "in Jesus name" at the end of each prayer point! Their faith is not in Christ.  Their faith is in their works! In 1 John 4 (MSG version) of the bible, John tells us:

4 "My dear friends, don’t believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world.

2-3 Here’s how you test for the genuine Spirit of God. Everyone who confesses openly his faith in Jesus Christ—the Son of God, who came as an actual flesh-and-blood person—comes from God and belongs to God. And everyone who refuses to confess faith in Jesus has nothing in common with God. This is the spirit of antichrist that you heard was coming. Well, here it is, sooner than we thought!"

Believers, by His grace, let your faith be in Christ and not in your works to make you right with God. Trying to get right with God by our own efforts is smack where the Accuser wants everyone to be: under the Law where his accusations can stick and where even those who profess Christ are subject to all the curses in Deut. 28; being extremely religious (with good intentions!) but cut off from Christ, like the Pharisees in the bible. The Pharisees were not against God; far from it! They feared God and we're meticulous about keeping the Law because of fear of His fiery judgment, much like many believers do today.

What these beloved of God do not yet understand is that God, who can never overlook sin and will rightly punish even the tiniest atom of sin,  punished all of our sins (past, present and future) in the body of His Son, our Saviour Jesus "once for all" (Hebrews 10:10) because He loved us so much. Because He sees what many cannot see: that all our righteousnesses (fasts, seeds, obedience to the Law done to curry His favour) are like menstrual rags and cannot save. 

For all who believe in Christ, there is no condemnation. It is His "Neither do I condemn you" that makes us "Go and sin no more."

Many continue to preach obedience to the Law (which cannot make any righteous) as the path to righteousness because not doing so would mean that they would have nothing that would make them "superior Christians;" nothing that they can boast about (Christ rightly gets all the glory) plus like the Pharisees feared, nobody would need to go to them (preachers) for advice on fasting, deliverance, dream interpretation, prayer points and "saara" prescriptions if they see the Light; our Lord God Himself says of true believers in Hebrews 10:11  

"None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them." 

In Christ, we get to have a tight and personal relationship with our Abba Father. The Holy Spirit teaches us all things.

Believers, by His grace, let Christ be your focus and not your own works. Behold Him and be transformed to the image of His glory (1 Cor. 3:18). By His grace, stop doing and start believing. Those who receive "abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness" are the ones who "will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:17,) not those who work for their own righteousness by keeping the Ten Commandments. "Whosoever believes in Him" is the one that "shall not perish but have everlasting life," not whosoever is doing things to get right with God. This points to the Law; and the "Law is not of faith;" and without faith it is impossible to please God.

By His grace, don't be anxious about right living. It will be added unto you. According to Romans 7:4 "...You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God."

With Christ we don't give to get; we get to give.

Ask our Saviour to open your heart to the knowledge of Him and watch Him make grace and peace be multiplied to you (2 Peter 1:2)

Believe Right and you will Live Right