Figure 1: Cover of my latest book from which I extracted this blog.
The devil has confused the world so much, that religious people now talk about anti-Christ as a mixed bag, instead of the politics that anti-Christ is (Genesis 3:4-5,15); (John 8:43-47), which has dominated the peoples of the world, their governments, and the resources of the different lands.
Many Christian religious leaders routinely label non-Judeo-Christian religions as anti-Christs. This distracts believers of Jesus Christ from the real evil, which Jesus is coming back to the world, to destroy (Revelation 19:15-21) and eliminate from the lives of human beings everywhere in the world — Galatians 5:1 NIV — “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Through many human generations, religion bred politics and covered up for politics—instead of combating politics as God had created religion to do — Genesis 3:22,24 NIV— “22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Religion walked away from God’s purpose for creating her, and has been consorting with politics, thus allowing politics through many human generations, to hide his ugly face from the peoples of the world—hence, the antichrist being revealed, instead of the antichrist showing up — 2 Thessalonians 2:8 NIV — “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.”
Then, just before the collective voice of the people wrongly condemned Jesus Christ to death on the cross, politics got out from behind religion (Matthew 27:20); (John 14:30-31) and began to impose its will on the people of the world, starting with the wrongful conviction of Jesus Christ in Matthew 27:21-25.
The chief priests and the elders persuading “the crowd” in Matthew 27:20 to ask Pontius Pilate to release Barabbas to them and execute Jesus Christ to death, is politics coming out from behind religion and taking over the control of things (John 14:30-31), as clearly shown in Matthew 27:21-25, where the threat of mob violence forced the people’s governor to give the people what they adamantly demanded (Matthew 27:24)—the execution of Jesus Christ!
The religious leaders in their desperation to rid themselves of Jesus Christ, instigated the people to use the threat of violence to help them accomplish their evil objective, not realizing that they were setting the precedence for the “collective voice of the people” to overcome them (the religious leaders) and permanently reduce them to a second-class leadership of the people, behind politics.
In a little more than 30 years after the collective voice of the people sent Jesus Christ to His death on the cross at the instigation of the religious leaders (70 A.D.), the Romans put an end to the power of those religious leaders, killed some and demolished their power base—the temple of God in Jerusalem—which has not been rebuilt to this day.
And like the Jewish religious leaders before them, the Gentile Christian leaders continued to use politics to achieve for themselves, their evil schemes, until politics made its final stand in Europe, and conquered religion for good. Note:
“Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. 16 The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled. 18 The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.” (Revelation 17:15-18 NIV)
“The woman” in this passage is not the Catholic Church but religion of Genesis 3:22, even though it was the Catholic Church that politics toppled to rule over all religions and all the peoples of all nations:
Once politics solidified its grip on the governments of the world societies aside from religion, the enslavement of the masses by politics became earnest: The government of every land, which God had given to the people of each land, for gathering and managing the resources that God had given to them (Genesis 1:28), was made by “the seed of the devil” (Genesis 3:1,4-5,15) who is politics, to now, own the people, strip them of their God-given freedom (Galatians 5:1), and dictate how they must do everything in their lives—including how they should worship God (Revelation 13:1-18), which is why “the separation of state and religion” now makes religion subservient to the state!
All peoples everywhere in the world belong to God and are precious to God (2 Peter 3:9). And no one’s religion disqualifies them from being saved by Jesus Christ! Because everywhere there are people in the world, there are cultures and the pursuit of spirituality, which the world has come to know as religion!
And the God who created everyone and placed them wherever He chose (Genesis 11:7-9), continues to allow people to pursue spirituality in those many ways, until the message of the cross is properly preached to them (Acts 17:30-31):
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:24-31 NIV)
Any preacher or teacher of the Bible who convinces their congregation, that non-Judeo-Christian religions are the anti-Christs, is helping the real anti-Christ that is unspiritual, conceal himself to the same people the preacher/teacher was charged with saving from the anti-Christ and worldliness!
Such a preacher or teacher is aiding and abating the archenemy of godliness—the unspiritual anti-Christ—instead of educating the lost peoples of the world (Matthew 28:18-20); and gathering them to Jesus Christ for their redemption (Luke 11:23).
Figure 2: Life is science. And all the commands of God in the Bible constitute the scientific method through which human beings can live profitable and fruitful lives on the earth, as they each work out their salvation.
The Gentile leaders of the church of God on the earth missed one critical point, the reason why God made the priests of Israel—and not their king and his officials—the guardians of the Law of God, which God had given to the Israelites through Moses; and then demanded that the king take from the priest a copy of the Law for his own use, and never to deviate either to the left or the right from any of it:
“14 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us.” 18 When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees 20 and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.” (Deuteronomy 17:14,18-20)!
When the Gentile church leaders took the mantle of spreading the gospel, they shaped the mission of salvation around their familiar practices, which are contrary to God’s righteousness: They made themselves kings as in their Gentile cultures, and began to lord it over the converts, instead of following the examples and the teachings of Jesus Christ and becoming like servants to the people they were leading (Luke 22:24-32).
It is with respect to not understanding their true roles as leaders in the kingdom of God, that Jesus Christ says to Apostle Peter, whom He had made the leader of his brother apostles: “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32 NIV)
In Luke 22:24-32, Apostle Peter and the rest of the apostles were doing exactly the same thing the Gentiles do, which the Gentile church leaders took with them on God’s mission of salvation for all peoples on the earth, in rebellion against Christ’s warning to them:
“Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” (Luke 22:25-27 NIV)
And because the Gentile church leaders had chosen the typical Gentile method of lording it over the peoples they rule, instead of obeying Christ’s command to remain brothers in Christ and be like servants to the peoples they lead, they incentivized the politically minded strongmen of Europe who were scheming to take leadership away from the church leaders.
When the politically minded kings of Europe took the people’s leadership away from the popes, they had no incentive from the examples of the church leaders, to try to follow Christ’s teaching in their leadership of the peoples: Instead, they used all their muscle to make sure that nobody else takes the leadership away from them.
As to why God made the priests of Israel (and not their king and his officials) the custodians of His law to the people, God had never intended Israel to have a king in addition to the priesthood, because God remains Israel’s King (1 Samuel 8:7).
God repeated His intention of remaining Israel’s King forever, after the Israelites returned from captivity in Babylon:
Zechariah 3:1-10 NIV — “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.”
Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.”
5 Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.
6 The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua: 7 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in obedience to me and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.
8 “‘Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. 9 See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day. 10 “‘In that day each of you will invite your neighbor to sit under your vine and fig tree,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”
God picked Joshua the high priest—and not Zerubbabel, the prince of Judah who descended from King David—to be a placeholder for “the Branch,” Jesus Christ, the King of kings (Zechariah 3:7-8). The governing of God’s house was to remain in the hands of the priests of God until Jesus Christ takes over from the priests.
The world has concluded that it was the fear of the Persians that stopped Israel from installing a king over Jerusalem and Judah upon their return from captivity in Babylon. It was rather God’s design: To return Israel to God’s original plan for Israel—to be ruled by priests under God, while God remains the King of Israel! Hear it from the Bible:
“The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. 22 It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. 23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. 24 The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes. 25 Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26 Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them.
27 After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 28 “Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up. 29 Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You burned that scroll and said, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe from it both man and beast?” 30 Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. 31 I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.’”
32 So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.” (Jeremiah 36:21-32 NIV)
In Jeremiah 36:30, God declared the end of succession to the kingship of Judah and Jerusalem, by the traditional descendants of David, because God’s Son Jesus Christ was immediately taking over the kingship of Israel and Judah; hence, God’s greater emphasis on the priesthood of Israel in Zechariah’s visions than on the kingship of David’s biological descendants like Zerubbabel, who returned with the exiles from Babylon as the governor of Judah.
And God brought this accommodation to full bloom with the Hasmonean rulers of Israel who were priests of Israel, and no descendants of David and Judah, the son of Jacob; but were descendants of Levi, the priestly lineage in Jacob (Hebrews 7:4-10).
But most of the world is oblivious of this truth of the human history, and of the Bible, because the politically minded Europeans had removed the 106-year rule of the priestly Hasmoneans over Israel (Maccabees 1 & 2) from their protestant Bibles—and so, out of common knowledge, since the Europeans have dominated the world after they took over from the Popes and the Christian church!
Keeping the priestly Hasmonean rule of God’s people out of common knowledge in Europe and around the world, helped to perpetuate the Gentile practice of corrupt kings and corrupt political leaders of society becoming custodians of the law, in place of the priests of God, who were charged by God to ensure that the people of all converted societies live their lives in accordance with the laws of God:
“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20 NIV)
With respect to the inception of human kingship in Israel, it was politics—the anti-Christ—who incentivized the Israelites to seek a worldly king like their neighbors, in rejection of God as their King:
“When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” (1 Samuel 8:1-5 NIV)
What the Israelite elders did against the brief leadership of the sons of Samuel (which was fraught with corruption) was classic politics:
Politics always seizes upon every discontentment in the people to insist on a drastic change in government, regardless of whether the discontentment was grounded in truth or borne out of the people’s selfish desires!
And politics always goes for the broke, always insisting on a change that godliness would never recover from—hence, Jesus Christ, having to sacrifice Himself on the cross, to help all human beings regain the ability to become godly once again, and work towards their respective salvations!
Politics knows that discontentment in a godly setting always comes from selfish desires (Genesis 3:1,4-5). Is Satan, who birthed politics, not the greatest expert in spotting discontentment in a godly setting, since he wrote the book on discontentment when he was Lucifer (John 8:43-47)?
When it comes to the leadership of the people, everybody wants an opportunity to become the leader; so that they can also cheat! We have seen it in all the societies of the world, encouraged and championed by the political masterminds of the civilized world—hence, all the political upheavals around the world that worsen by the minute.
It was politics also, who, at the beginning of Rehoboam’s reign over Israel, reared its head, again, among the elders of Israel, incentivizing them to demand that Rehoboam lighten their tax loads or rule only his father’s house (1 Kings 12).
And when Rehoboam refused, ten out of the twelves tribes of Israel left the union of God’s people, and instituted their own government, which their newly appointed king, Jeroboam, immediately changed from conforming to the commands of God in the Scriptures, because Jeroboam wanted to keep the leadership of that kingdom in his family forever (1 Kings 12:26-33).
Prior to the incident with Samuel, politics had come between God and Israel several other times, which angered God enough to ensure that none of those rebellious elders of Israel, made it alive out of the wilderness, in which they wandered for forty years because of their corruption by politics: They knew what God had commanded them, but they always wanted things their own way!
The peoples of the world have failed to see politics at work in all these instances of the Israelites rebellion against the godly leadership God had installed over them, because all of us have conditioned ourselves to believe that our rebellions against God, and against all human authorities (including the authorities in our homes), always come from our geniuses!
After all, is it not us that sit down, turn things over in our minds, and decide to act against the authorities that are over us, as a sign of our discontentment and our resolve to force them to change?
And with respect to the Gentiles who did not know the wisdom of God, and so, had been doing whatever they liked with the peoples of their respective societies—lording it over them—God desires expressly, that once the message of the cross is preached to the Gentiles and they turn from their ignorance, that they follow in the footsteps of Israel, whom God had intended to be a shining example to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46-48):
Acts 13:46-48 NIV - “Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.
47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.”
Luke 22:24-30 NIV — “A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25 Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. 28 You are those who have stood by me in my trials. 29 And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Therefore, God did not want the Gentiles to continue in their errors of lording it over their peoples after the people have accepted Jesus Christ as their King, their Lord, and their Savior. See the diagram below.
Once a Gentile society converts to God’s righteousness by accepting the gospel of the truth (Matthew 28:18-20), their priests automatically become the guardians of the law—as the Popes did. And the law of God becomes the converted society’s only law—just as the Popes imposed on the European communities they Christianized and ruled until the rebellion of the European politicians through which they started their respective state churches.
However, the Popes’ greater leaning on temporal powers and merciless laws, than on priestly servitude and humility, made them more politicians than priests, and brought their authority into disrepute:
They walked away from Christ-commanded rule of love (1 Corinthians 8:9-13); (Matthew 25:34-40); (Matthew 20:1-16); (John 21:15-17); (2 Corinthians 13:5); (Galatians 6:2); (Luke 12:13-21); and in their pride, forcefully brought back Christ-obsoleted rule of law (Hebrews 8:13), and turn salvation of its head, and the human government into a free-for-all:
“Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. 5 Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.” 6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim.” (Romans 10:1-8 NIV)
Figure 3: The way the corrupt leadership of Samuel’s children, Joel and Abijah, incentivized the elders of Israel to demand a political government (a king like the nations around Israel) and got it, is the same exact way the corrupt leadership of the Gentile church leaders incentivized the political Europeans to fight the Popes and the Gentile church. And they wrestled the leadership of the world’s peoples away from the church! That is politics at its best—seizing upon every little opportunity for claims of corruption, to steal the government of the people away from godly rule, fueled by everyone’s desire to, one day, become the ruler of the people, and cheat also!
We see that it was politics who prevented converted Gentile societies around the world from adopting the law of God as the law of their respective lands. Politics made the politicians and their bureaucrats the custodians of the law, instead of the priests of God in the converted Gentile societies.
Politics has seized the world’s imagination so much (Revelation 13:4), that even the Israelites on returning to their ancestral land in 1948, adopted the Gentiles’ method of ruling themselves politically, instead of through the Law of Moses which God had commanded their ancestors.
As is typical of politics, upon the Gentile political leaders of Europe taking power by force from the Popes and the Christian church, they immediately rejected certain books of the Bible, to keep the people they rule in ignorance of the whole truth of God, in much the same way Jeroboam concealed from the ten tribes of Israel, his true motives for his reforms (the golden calves) as their king.
Politics always keeps the people that are governed away from the truth, afraid that their knowing the truth could cost politics the power politics cherishes so much. So, politics concocts lies and feeds the lies to the people, to keep them in ignorance of the truth. And it works every single time!
Here is the Bible on how Jeroboam used his insecurities about losing his kingship to Rehoboam if he allowed the people to continue to go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the temple, to turn the people he ruled away from God:
“Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”
28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 29 One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other.
31 Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. 32 He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. 33 On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.” (1 Kings 12:26-33 NIV)
We see from Jeroboam, that politics never lacks support (1 Kings 12:28): Jeroboam quickly surrounded himself with advisers who supported him to turn the people of God away from their God so he and those supporters could hold on to power.
The Gentile kings and their officials were commanded by God at their conversion to God’s righteousness, to take their own copies of the law from the Law which the priests of God in their respective societies had received as the word of God. The politicians know that doing so will point the people to the priesthood being superior to the kingship.
So, the witty Gentile politicians of Europe concentrated all the power around the kingship, and recruited willing participants from the priesthood, to serve under the king and his officials, in sabotage of the Popes and the Catholic Church that ruled all Europe. And once they usurped power from the Popes, they never let up. Instead, they talked their religious counterparts into the separation of state and church; and quickly ran over the universal church!
However, unfortunately for them, anything shy of the king and his officials (politicians) taking their laws from the laws given by God to His priests, is human pretentiousness that leads away from the truth, which is what we are all suffering in our world today: God’s holy priesthood was intended by God to rule all lives in all societies everywhere in the world, from Christ’s sacrifice of His life on the cross to the end of time (Ephesians 2:11-22)!
Having full knowledge that God’s holy priesthood was designed by God to rule all societies of the world at their conversion to Christ, was the very reason why all the Europeans communities that broke away from the Catholic Church, each, instituted their own Christian priesthood on breaking away from the Catholic Church, to match the Popes’ compliance to the same provision of the word of God and boost their legitimacy!
The Gentile church leaders, whom the European kings and politicians took over from, had walked away from God’s plan of ensuring that all converted societies were ruled by God’s priesthood (Romans 10:3), by assimilating politics into their religion (Revelation 17:2), instead of fiercely restraining politics as God had charged them to restrain politics — 1 Kings 19:17 NIV — “Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.”
The man of God, Samuel, demonstrated the supremacy of God’s authority over all human authorities, when King Saul of Israel failed to kill all the Amalekites including their king as he was commanded by God, and instead, brought the Amalekite king to Israel with his family. Samuel simply asked for the Amalekite king (Agag) to be brought out. And when he was brought out, Samuel put him to death, demonstrating that God’s commands demand fearlessness and expeditious execution!
The great success of the anti-Christ (politics) in concealing himself to the peoples of the world, is the reason the Bible said that the anti-Christ will be revealed—and not that he will come, because he has been here since Genesis 3:1,4-5,15, way before Christ’s condemnation to death on the cross.
That the anti-Christ has been with the peoples in the world since Genesis 3:1,4-5,15, and will remain in the world until God concludes the hearing in God’s heavenly court, of Satan’s appeal of Satan’s conviction of wickedness by God, is the reason the apostles of Jesus Christ commanded the converted peoples of the world:
“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” (Ephesians 5:15-17 NIV)
Did Jesus Christ not declare in John 16:1-11 that it is for the good of the peoples of the world that He had to die on the cross and return to the Father in heaven, so He could send us the Holy Spirit, who on arrival, will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment: About sin, because people do not believe in Him; about righteousness, because He was going back to the Father where human beings can no longer see Him; and about judgment, because from that point forward, “the prince of this world” (politics—Genesis 3:4-5.15 & John 8:43-47) stands condemned.
Therefore, the world has been wrong about politics since before Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross at Calvary. In fact, it was politics—the collective will and voice of the people (Matthew 27:21-25)—who condemned Jesus Christ to death on the cross:
“While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”
20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
21 “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.
“Barabbas,” they answered.
22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.
They all answered, “Crucify him!”
23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”
25 All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”
26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.” (Matthew 27:19-26 NIV)
All shepherds of God’s flock must always teach the absolute truths of God (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV), and not the imagination of their own minds (1 Timothy 1:3-7), because the word of God is the infinitely advanced science of life everywhere — 1 John 5:12 NIV — “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
Shepherds of God’s flock must not continue to pile errors onto errors, just because, in error, they allowed politics to strip them of the power and authority to administer the laws of God to the peoples in their respective societies, as designed and commanded by God in the Scriptures (Deuteronomy 17:18-20).
They sold out to politics (Revelation 13:2-8). Should they now abandon their responsibilities altogether, and sing the praises of politics, as politics marshals all the peoples of the world to their eternal ruin (Revelation 13:11-18)?
The anti-Christ is unspiritual and never interested in leading religions, but in leading the world, and in controlling the world’s entire peoples and resources. That was the reason the Hasmonean priestly rule over the Holy Land turned itself into a kingship in just three generations!
Anti-Christ’s knowledge that he will easily lose people’s loyalty without religion, keeps the anti-Christ from crippling religion altogether and keeping everything to himself. The anti-Christ’s only interest in religion is to have religion continue to provide the necessary cover for the anti-Christ.
There has always been many in religion with the spirit of the anti-Christ (1 John 4:3) since religion was given authority (Genesis 3:22) and power (Genesis 3:24) by God to control what the anti-Christ had always wanted to own and control—the resources of the entire world and the peoples that work it!
Overcoming the boundaries which religion had imposed on the anti-Christ while religion was controlling the entire world, was the reason the anti-Christ separated from religion in the first place. Soon after, the anti-Christ subdued religion and subjugated religion to his authority, power, and control. And it has been that way since then.