1 Jn 2, 22-28
Dear Brothers!
Who is the liar, if not one who claims that Jesus is not the Christ? This is the Antichrist, who denies both the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son cannot have the Father either; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father too. Let what you heard in the beginning remain in you; as long as what you heard in the beginning remains in you, you will remain in the Son and in the Father. And the promise he made you himself is eternal life. So much have I written to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. But as for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you; since the anointing he gave you teaches you everything, and since it is true, not false, remain in him just as he has taught you. Therefore remain in him now, children, so that when he appears we may be fearless, and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.
Unfortunately, it is not a legend that an Antichrist will come at the end of the times before the return of Christ, but a firm foundation of Christian doctrine and also correspondingly laid down in Holy Scripture. At the coming of the last Antichrist – and most of those who have dealt with this figure of doom are sure that it is a person – the Antichrist will try to exercise global power on different levels. He will also not be afraid in trying to take the place of God and to claim a religious worship for himself. Here the old desire of the devil is at work, as it is shown in the temptation of Jesus in the desert, that he wants to be worshipped and to try to dethrone God (cf. Mt 4,8-9).
If we ask ourselves whether such a figure as the Antichrist is already alive, and if we have to reckon with the fact that the “son of perdition” will take over his reign – for a short time – still during our lifetime, then we cannot answer this seriously, unless we have received a supernatural knowledge from God. Also we do not know whether it is the last Antichrist who will come or another “Antichrist” as we have already suffered it several times in the history of mankind.
But such questions, which we do not answer or do not yet answer validly, are no reason to overlook the importance of such a text and especially not to ignore the urgent advice. For just as the Second Coming of the Lord is preceded by signs which are intended to make us realize that the time is near, so too we can recognize signs that a “spiritual fiend” – as the Antichrist will be – is being prepared by his disciples.
Such a “spiritual fiend” may not be recognized immediately. There are quite a few authors who even ascribe a winning nature to the Antichrist, who outwardly appears virtuous, religious and above all fascinating. Perhaps he shows himself in the present time as a globalist, who presents solutions for the material problems of people, who develops far-reaching concepts to improve the life of people as a whole and much more! Outwardly he may be like the right man at the right time, who advances humanity, who gathers the great worldly institutions behind him. Also many nations may see him as a benefactor of humanity, who seems to be endowed with special authority and therefore support him accordingly.
But it is a deception. Inside, the Antichrist is not led by the Holy Spirit, but is inspired by demons, and his God-given human gifts are put into service by them. But the aim of the demons is not to become benefactors of mankind, but they use such pretences to alienate men from God and to bring them under their influence.
The Lithuanian Antanas Maceina, in his book “The Mystery of Wickedness” on p. 51 describes very enlightening:
“The Antichrist of Solowjef is a self loving benefactor. He wants to give everyone what he needs. He wants distributive justice to prevail in the world. The satisfaction of self-love is the basic motive of antichristian charity.” (1)
The Antichrist described in today’s text should be clearly recognizable, for every believing Catholic should be aware when Christ is publicly denied. But all this can also happen much more subtly. It does not always have to be a public denial, it can also happen “between the lines” so to speak.
The biblical advice is clear: Do not be misled; we should remain in the “anointing”, that is, in the Holy Spirit. For us this means that we remain in the tradition of the Holy Scriptures and follow the authentic teaching of the Church. This admonition is all the more important because confusion has entered the Church, the spirit of the Antichrist is active up to the highest levels of the hierarchy and weakens the Church from within.
Therefore, the admonition from the Epistle of John should not be overheard. We will resist the seductive arts of the Antichrist and his false prophet only if we are grounded in the Word of God, follow the true teaching of the Church, earnestly walk the path of holiness, and if possible, maintain an intimate relationship with the Mother of the Lord.
(1) Maceina refers to the book of Vladimir Solowjev: Short story of the Antichrist
Concluding remark:
As I decided last year, I use the daily meditations primarily to deepen the faith and the spiritual path of discipleship. But there is also an inner duty of love to warn if one recognizes the aberrations of state and church. In order to fulfil this duty, I would like to remind you that I have opened a special blog in which I present my view of questionable developments with an Anti-Christian character. In the meantime I have put down some texts there, which are freely available.
https://en-baltalelija.blogspot.com/
Whoever wants to be kept up to date by me about the crisis-laden developments in the world and in the Church, is invited to download Telegram (a messenger app – free of charge) and write to me accordingly (balta-lelija@jemael.net). He can then be included in a group that is interested in my assessments of the current situation.