November 2, 2025 • 20 mins
Satan has a problem he can't solve – and it means the Antichrist might already be walking among us.
SERMON TRANSCRIPT…
https://weirddarkness.com/cotu-satans-antichrist-emergency-plan
Weird Darkness® and Church Of The Undead™ are trademarked. Copyright © 2025.
#WeirdDarkness #ChurchOfTheUndead #AntichristProphecy #EndTimes #BiblicalProphecy #SecondComing #SpiritualWarfare #ChristianSermon #BookOfRevelation #LastDays #Tribulation #Rapture
SERMON TRANSCRIPT…
https://weirddarkness.com/cotu-satans-antichrist-emergency-plan
Weird Darkness® and Church Of The Undead™ are trademarked. Copyright © 2025.
#WeirdDarkness #ChurchOfTheUndead #AntichristProphecy #EndTimes #BiblicalProphecy #SecondComing #SpiritualWarfare #ChristianSermon #BookOfRevelation #LastDays #Tribulation #Rapture
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
There is a game of chess happening right now that
most of us never think about. One player knows every
move that will ever be made. The other player is scrambling,
always preparing, always positioning pieces on the board, but he
doesn't know when his time will run out. Think about
this for a moment. We know from Matthew twenty four
(00:21):
verse thirty six that no one knows the day or
hour when Jesus will return, not the angels in heaven,
not even the son Jesus himself, only the Father. That's
pretty clear. The second coming is a mystery locked away
in God's timing alone. But here's where things get interesting
from a spiritual warfare perspective. If Satan doesn't know when
(00:44):
Jesus is coming back, and the rise of the Antichrist
is connected to end time's events, then Satan has a
serious problem on his hands. He has to be ready,
always ready, at any moment. The cosmic clock could midnight,
and he would need his key player in position. That
means right now today, somewhere in the world, there is
(01:09):
likely someone being groomed, positioned, and prepared to potentially become
the Antichrist. Not because Satan knows it's time, but because
he doesn't know and he can't afford to be caught unprepared. Hello, Weirdos,
(01:34):
I'm Pastor Darren. Welcome to the Church of the Undead.
You're in the Church of the Undead. I step away
from being a host of weird Darkness and step into
the clothes of a reverend. I still share things that
are dark, strange, or macabre, diving into the paranormal, true crime, monsters,
and more, but I try to find a biblical take
on the subject matter. I have to say it's a
fun challenge. If you're a Weirdo family member from my
(01:57):
Weird Darkness podcast or a Weirdo in Christ from this one.
Welcome to the Church of the Undead. And I use
the word undead because as Romans six, verse eleven says,
in the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but
alive to God in Christ Jesus and as Ephesians two states,
even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made
(02:17):
us alive together with Christ. If you were dead and
are now alive, that makes you undead. If you want
to join this Weirdo congregation, just click that subscribe or
follow button and visit us online at Weird Darkness dot
com slash church. In this episode's message, Satan has a
problem that he can't solve, and it means the Eta
(02:39):
Christ might already be walking among us. Full disclosure. Before
I get into the message, I might use the term
pastor because I've branded this feature as a church and
I got a minister's license online. But I do not
have a theology degree, nor did I ever go to
Bible College. I'm just a guy who gave his life
to Christ at the age of twenty one and has
tried to walk the walk ever since, and has stumbled
(03:01):
a lot along the way, because like everybody else, I
am an imperfect, heavily flawed human being. So please don't
take what I say as gospel. Dig into God's word
yourself for confirmation, inspiration, and revelation that being said, Welcome
to the Church of the Young Dead. Throughout human history,
(03:30):
Satan would have needed to maintain what we might call
a succession plan. Every generation, every era, every decade. There
would need to be someone in the pipeline, someone with
the charisma, the political positioning, the personality, cult the ability
to deceive. Because the moment Jesus returns the tribulation clock
(03:51):
starts ticking, and the Antichrist needs to be ready to
step onto the world stage. We've seen glimpses of this
throughout history. Nero persecuted Christians with such fury that early
believers wondered if he was the one. Hitler's genocidal regime
and cult of personality made many think the end had come.
Various dictators, tyrants, and charismatic deceivers have risen and fallen
(04:15):
through the centuries, each one potentially positioned to fulfill that
role if the timing had been right. Scripture actually supports
this idea of continuous preparation. First John two, verse eighteen
tells us, dear children, this is the last hour. And
as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now,
(04:36):
many Antichrists have come. This is how we know it
is the last hour. John wrote that nearly two thousand
years ago, and he was already seeing multiple Antichrists, people
embodying that spirit of opposition to Christ, that deceptive charisma,
that false promise of peace and unity apart from God.
(04:57):
First John four to three goes even further, and every
spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.
This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have
heard is coming and even now, is already in the world,
already in the world, not just coming someday, already operating,
already active, already working. This isn't just about one future
(05:23):
villain in a prophecy timeline. This is about a spiritual
reality that has been unfolding since the first century and
continues today. The spirit of Antichrist, that force that opposes Christ,
denies the Father and the Son, deceives the nations, promises
false peace, has been working over time for millennia, because
(05:44):
Satan doesn't have the luxury of waiting until he knows
for certain the time has come. We see this spirit
manifest in ideologies that promise utopia without God. We see
it in leaders who demand to worship level devotion. We
see it in movements offer unity through compromise of truth.
We see it in the subtle and not so subtle
(06:05):
ways of our culture, pushing us towards self worship, towards
finding our identity in anything except Christ. So if Satan
is always preparing, always positioning, always grooming potential candidates for
his ultimate deception, what does that mean for those of
us trying to follow Jesus in the midst of all
of this. It means we need to be just as vigilant,
(06:30):
just as prepared, just as ready. Jesus told us in
Matthew twenty four, verses forty two through forty four. Therefore,
keep watch because you do not know on what day
your Lord will come. But understand this. If the owner
of the house had known at what time of the
night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch
and would not have let his house be broken into.
(06:51):
So you also must be ready, because the son of
Man will come at an hour when you do not
expect him. Notice the parallel here. Satan doesn't know when
Jesus is coming, so he has to always be ready.
With his counterfeit, we don't know when Jesus is coming,
so we have to always be ready to meet him.
(07:13):
The difference is that our preparation isn't about fear or
frantic positioning. It's about faithfulness, about keeping our lives aligned
with Christ, about not being deceived by the antichrist spirits
that are already at work around us. And if we're honest,
sometimes within our own hearts. We need to develop discernment. First,
John four, verse one warns us, dear friends, do not
(07:35):
believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether
they are from God, because many false prophets have gone
out into the world. If Satan is continuously grooming anti
Christ figures, then we are continuously surrounded by anti Christ ideas,
antichrist philosophies, Antichrist promises. How do we test them? John
(07:58):
gives us the Litmus. Does this acknowledge Jesus Christ's Lord?
Does this point us toward God or toward ourselves? Does
this promise peace through surrender to Christ or through human achievement?
Does this call for genuine repentance or just social conformity.
We live in a culture that constantly offers us counterfeit
(08:20):
visions of what only Christ can provide. Counterfeit peace through
drugs and meditation without transformation, counterfeit community through social media
connections that lack genuine covenant, counterfeit purpose through career achievement
and personal branding, counterfeit identity through political tribes and cultural movements.
(08:41):
None of these things are evil in themselves, but when
they become our ultimate answer, when they promise to fulfill
what only Jesus can fulfill, that's when we are encountering
that anti Christ spirit. But here's the beautiful truth that
should anchor us in all of this. God is sovereign
over the timing. Satan's frantic preparation reveals his weakness, not
(09:05):
his strength. He's playing a game where he doesn't know
the rules, doesn't know the timeline, doesn't know the outcome,
except that he knows that he loses. We know how
the story ends. Revelation nineteen and twenty lay it out
very clearly. The Antichrist rises, deceives many, seems unstoppable, and
(09:25):
then Jesus returns, and it's over. Not a close battle,
not a nail biter, It's finished. In a moment. The
beast and the false prophet are thrown into the lake
of fire, Satan is bound, and Christ reigns. Satan's always
ready strategy isn't a sign of his power. It's a
sign of his desperate scrambling against a clock he can't
(09:48):
see and a king he can't defeat. Meanwhile, we serve
that king, We know him, We are sealed by his spirit.
We are held in his hand, and nothing, not tribulation,
not the Antichrist, not Satan himself, can snatch us away
from the Love of Christ Romans eight, verses thirty eight
and thirty nine. John said nearly two thousand years ago
(10:10):
that it was the last hour. Peter wrote in One
Peter four, verse seven, the end of all things is near. Therefore,
be alert and of sober mind, so that you may
pray for too millennia the Church has lived in this
tension of the already and not yet the last days
that stretch on the imminent return that hasn't happened yet.
(10:34):
This isn't God being slow. Tewod Peter three, verse nine
reminds us the Lord is not slow in keeping his
promise as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you,
not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Every day that Jesus doesn't return is another day of grace,
(10:55):
another opportunity for someone to turn to Christ, another chance
for us to share the Gospel with those who don't
yet know Him. While Satan scrambles to keep an Antichrist
candidate ready in every generation, God is patiently holding back
judgment so more people can be saved. That's the kind
of God we serve. Not reactive, not frantic, not worried,
(11:19):
but patient, purposeful, and loving beyond our comprehension. So what
do we do with this understanding? How do we live
knowing that the spirit of Antichrist is already at work,
that somewhere in this world Satan may have someone positioned
for his final play, that we're living in what Scripture
calls the last days. First, we stay rooted in Christ.
(11:44):
We don't get distracted by trying to identify the Antichrist
or decode prophecy timelines. Jesus told us we won't know
the day or our and he told us that for
a reason. Our job isn't to figure out the schedule.
Our job is to remain faithful, to aid in Him,
to let his word shape our thinking and his spirit
(12:04):
guide our living. Second, we develop discernment, We test the spirits.
We examine the ideas and ideologies that come at us constantly,
through media, through culture, through well meaning friends and family.
Does this align with Scripture? Does this point me toward
Christ or away from him? Does this require me to
(12:25):
compromise truth for the sake of unity or peace? Third,
we live with urgency, but not anxiety. Yes, time is short,
it has always been short. Yes, Christ could return today,
He could have returned yesterday. That urgency should motivate us
to share the gospel, to make the most of our time,
(12:46):
to invest in what matters eternally. But it shouldn't make
us anxious or fearful. We are not children hiding from
a storm. We are children waiting for our Father to
come home. Fourth, we extend grace. If Satan is always
positioning anti Christ candidates, then lots of people are being
(13:07):
influenced by Antichrist ideas, probably without even knowing it. We
were too before Christ opened our eyes. We are all
susceptible to deception, to pride, definding our identity in things
other than Jesus. So we speak truth, but we speak
it in love. We call out deception, but we do
(13:28):
it with compassion. We remember that we're not fighting against
flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of evil, as
we're told in Ephesians six, verse twelve. There's something deeply
comforting about this whole dynamic when you really think about it.
Satan has to be ready at all times because he
doesn't know when his time runs out. We get to
(13:52):
rest in God's perfect timing because we know our Father
holds every moment in his hands Satan scrambles and positions
and grooms and prepares because he's playing defense against a
game that he's already lost. We get to walk in
confidence because we're on the winning side and our victory
(14:12):
was secured at the Cross in the empty tomb. Every
generation has wondered if they were the last. Every era
has had its potential anti Christ figures. Some came terrifyingly
close to the descriptions and revelation, but none of them
were the one because it wasn't the time, and what
it is the time When that final figure does rise,
(14:35):
when the tribulation does begin, those of us who know
Christ will either be with him already or will be
sustained by him through whatever comes. Either way, we win
either way, we are held secure. Either way. Our future
is guaranteed not by our ability to decode prophecy, but
(14:57):
by Christ's finished work on the Cross. In the meantime,
we have work to do while Satan positions is counterfeits.
We get to point people to the real thing, while
the spirit of Antichrist whispers lies about identity and purpose
and peace. We get to speak the truth about who
Jesus is and what he offers. While the world stumbles
(15:19):
in darkness. We get to be light that's not metaphor,
that is our actual calling. Matthew five verses fourteen or
sixteen says you are the light of the world. A
town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do
people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead,
they put it on its stand, and it gives light
to everyone in the house. In the same way, let
(15:41):
your light shine before others, that they may see your
good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven. Every act
of kindness, every moment of integrity, every choice to speak
truth in love, every decision to forgive when we could
hold a grudge, every sacrifice we make for others, these
are ways we shine light into a dark world. These
(16:04):
are ways we push back against that antichrist spirit that
says it's all about us. The truth is relative that
we can find meaning apart from God. Satan may be
grooming in Antichrist, but we get to reflect the true
Christ to a world that desperately needs him. As I close,
remember this, the Uni Christ, whenever he does come, will
(16:27):
have his moment. It will be terrifying, it will be deceptive,
it will seem unstoppable, but it'll be brief, and it
will end with Christ's victory. Revelation nineteen, verse twenty describes
it simply, But the beast was captured, and with it
the false prophet, who had performed the signs on its behalf.
(16:48):
With these signs, he had deluded those who had received
the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The
two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake
of burning sulfur. That's it. Game over the figure Satan
spent in millennia preparing for the ultimate deception, the final Antichrist,
defeated in a moment by the King of Kings and
(17:10):
Lord of lords. We don't have to fear what's coming.
We don't have to be anxious about the times we're living,
and we don't have to lose sleep over which leader
or movement might be connected to end time's prophecy. We
serve a God who is already one, who holds all
of history in his hands, who works all things together
for the good of those who love him Romans eight
(17:33):
twenty eight. So we watch, but we don't worry. We
stay alert, but we don't live in fear. We recognize
the spirit of Antichrist when we see it, but we
respond with the spirit of Christ who lives in us.
We understand that Satan is scrambling to stay ready because
he knows his time is limited, but we rest in
(17:54):
the unlimited patience and perfect timing of our Father in heaven.
The Antichrist may be being groomed right now, probably is
most certainly is someone somewhere is in Satan's crosshairs, being
positioned for that final role. But we know something Satan doesn't.
(18:14):
We know the peace that passes understanding. We know the
love that casts out fear. We know the Savior who's
already conquered death, sin, and Satan himself, and that changes everything.
That lets us walk through these last days, however long
they last, with confidence, with joy, with purpose, not because
(18:36):
we're ignorant of the spiritual warfare around us, but because
we know who wins. Not because we're naive about the
darkness in the world, but because we carry the light
within us. And when Christ does return, whether that is today, tomorrow,
or a thousand years from now, we'll be ready. Not
because we figured out the timeline, but because we stayed faithful,
(19:01):
not because we identified the Antichrist, but because we knew Christ,
not because we were clever or vigilant enough, but because
He is faithful and will complete the work he began
in Us Philippians one, verse six. That's the gospel, that's
our hope. That's what carries us through whatever comes. Maranatha,
(19:24):
Come Lord Jesus, and until he does, We'll keep shining
light in the darkness, keep speaking truth and love, keep
pointing people to the only one who can save them
from the deception that's already at work in the world.
We live in the last hour we always have, and
we are held secure in the hands of the one
(19:46):
who knows exactly when that hour will end. If you
like what you heard, share this episode with other whom
you think might also like it. Maybe the person you
share it with or want to join this weirdo congregation too.
To listen to previous messages, visit weird Darkness dot com
(20:08):
slash church. That's weird Darkness dot com slash church. I'm
Darren Marler. Thanks for joining me weirdos, and until next time,
Jesus loves you, and so do I. God bless
There is a game of chess happening right now that
most of us never think about. One player knows every
move that will ever be made. The other player is scrambling,
always preparing, always positioning pieces on the board, but he
doesn't know when his time will run out. Think about
this for a moment. We know from Matthew twenty four
(00:21):
verse thirty six that no one knows the day or
hour when Jesus will return, not the angels in heaven,
not even the son Jesus himself, only the Father. That's
pretty clear. The second coming is a mystery locked away
in God's timing alone. But here's where things get interesting
from a spiritual warfare perspective. If Satan doesn't know when
(00:44):
Jesus is coming back, and the rise of the Antichrist
is connected to end time's events, then Satan has a
serious problem on his hands. He has to be ready,
always ready, at any moment. The cosmic clock could midnight,
and he would need his key player in position. That
means right now today, somewhere in the world, there is
(01:09):
likely someone being groomed, positioned, and prepared to potentially become
the Antichrist. Not because Satan knows it's time, but because
he doesn't know and he can't afford to be caught unprepared. Hello, Weirdos,
(01:34):
I'm Pastor Darren. Welcome to the Church of the Undead.
You're in the Church of the Undead. I step away
from being a host of weird Darkness and step into
the clothes of a reverend. I still share things that
are dark, strange, or macabre, diving into the paranormal, true crime, monsters,
and more, but I try to find a biblical take
on the subject matter. I have to say it's a
fun challenge. If you're a Weirdo family member from my
(01:57):
Weird Darkness podcast or a Weirdo in Christ from this one.
Welcome to the Church of the Undead. And I use
the word undead because as Romans six, verse eleven says,
in the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but
alive to God in Christ Jesus and as Ephesians two states,
even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made
(02:17):
us alive together with Christ. If you were dead and
are now alive, that makes you undead. If you want
to join this Weirdo congregation, just click that subscribe or
follow button and visit us online at Weird Darkness dot
com slash church. In this episode's message, Satan has a
problem that he can't solve, and it means the Eta
(02:39):
Christ might already be walking among us. Full disclosure. Before
I get into the message, I might use the term
pastor because I've branded this feature as a church and
I got a minister's license online. But I do not
have a theology degree, nor did I ever go to
Bible College. I'm just a guy who gave his life
to Christ at the age of twenty one and has
tried to walk the walk ever since, and has stumbled
(03:01):
a lot along the way, because like everybody else, I
am an imperfect, heavily flawed human being. So please don't
take what I say as gospel. Dig into God's word
yourself for confirmation, inspiration, and revelation that being said, Welcome
to the Church of the Young Dead. Throughout human history,
(03:30):
Satan would have needed to maintain what we might call
a succession plan. Every generation, every era, every decade. There
would need to be someone in the pipeline, someone with
the charisma, the political positioning, the personality, cult the ability
to deceive. Because the moment Jesus returns the tribulation clock
(03:51):
starts ticking, and the Antichrist needs to be ready to
step onto the world stage. We've seen glimpses of this
throughout history. Nero persecuted Christians with such fury that early
believers wondered if he was the one. Hitler's genocidal regime
and cult of personality made many think the end had come.
Various dictators, tyrants, and charismatic deceivers have risen and fallen
(04:15):
through the centuries, each one potentially positioned to fulfill that
role if the timing had been right. Scripture actually supports
this idea of continuous preparation. First John two, verse eighteen
tells us, dear children, this is the last hour. And
as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now,
(04:36):
many Antichrists have come. This is how we know it
is the last hour. John wrote that nearly two thousand
years ago, and he was already seeing multiple Antichrists, people
embodying that spirit of opposition to Christ, that deceptive charisma,
that false promise of peace and unity apart from God.
(04:57):
First John four to three goes even further, and every
spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.
This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have
heard is coming and even now, is already in the world,
already in the world, not just coming someday, already operating,
already active, already working. This isn't just about one future
(05:23):
villain in a prophecy timeline. This is about a spiritual
reality that has been unfolding since the first century and
continues today. The spirit of Antichrist, that force that opposes Christ,
denies the Father and the Son, deceives the nations, promises
false peace, has been working over time for millennia, because
(05:44):
Satan doesn't have the luxury of waiting until he knows
for certain the time has come. We see this spirit
manifest in ideologies that promise utopia without God. We see
it in leaders who demand to worship level devotion. We
see it in movements offer unity through compromise of truth.
We see it in the subtle and not so subtle
(06:05):
ways of our culture, pushing us towards self worship, towards
finding our identity in anything except Christ. So if Satan
is always preparing, always positioning, always grooming potential candidates for
his ultimate deception, what does that mean for those of
us trying to follow Jesus in the midst of all
of this. It means we need to be just as vigilant,
(06:30):
just as prepared, just as ready. Jesus told us in
Matthew twenty four, verses forty two through forty four. Therefore,
keep watch because you do not know on what day
your Lord will come. But understand this. If the owner
of the house had known at what time of the
night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch
and would not have let his house be broken into.
(06:51):
So you also must be ready, because the son of
Man will come at an hour when you do not
expect him. Notice the parallel here. Satan doesn't know when
Jesus is coming, so he has to always be ready.
With his counterfeit, we don't know when Jesus is coming,
so we have to always be ready to meet him.
(07:13):
The difference is that our preparation isn't about fear or
frantic positioning. It's about faithfulness, about keeping our lives aligned
with Christ, about not being deceived by the antichrist spirits
that are already at work around us. And if we're honest,
sometimes within our own hearts. We need to develop discernment. First,
John four, verse one warns us, dear friends, do not
(07:35):
believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether
they are from God, because many false prophets have gone
out into the world. If Satan is continuously grooming anti
Christ figures, then we are continuously surrounded by anti Christ ideas,
antichrist philosophies, Antichrist promises. How do we test them? John
(07:58):
gives us the Litmus. Does this acknowledge Jesus Christ's Lord?
Does this point us toward God or toward ourselves? Does
this promise peace through surrender to Christ or through human achievement?
Does this call for genuine repentance or just social conformity.
We live in a culture that constantly offers us counterfeit
(08:20):
visions of what only Christ can provide. Counterfeit peace through
drugs and meditation without transformation, counterfeit community through social media
connections that lack genuine covenant, counterfeit purpose through career achievement
and personal branding, counterfeit identity through political tribes and cultural movements.
(08:41):
None of these things are evil in themselves, but when
they become our ultimate answer, when they promise to fulfill
what only Jesus can fulfill, that's when we are encountering
that anti Christ spirit. But here's the beautiful truth that
should anchor us in all of this. God is sovereign
over the timing. Satan's frantic preparation reveals his weakness, not
(09:05):
his strength. He's playing a game where he doesn't know
the rules, doesn't know the timeline, doesn't know the outcome,
except that he knows that he loses. We know how
the story ends. Revelation nineteen and twenty lay it out
very clearly. The Antichrist rises, deceives many, seems unstoppable, and
(09:25):
then Jesus returns, and it's over. Not a close battle,
not a nail biter, It's finished. In a moment. The
beast and the false prophet are thrown into the lake
of fire, Satan is bound, and Christ reigns. Satan's always
ready strategy isn't a sign of his power. It's a
sign of his desperate scrambling against a clock he can't
(09:48):
see and a king he can't defeat. Meanwhile, we serve
that king, We know him, We are sealed by his spirit.
We are held in his hand, and nothing, not tribulation,
not the Antichrist, not Satan himself, can snatch us away
from the Love of Christ Romans eight, verses thirty eight
and thirty nine. John said nearly two thousand years ago
(10:10):
that it was the last hour. Peter wrote in One
Peter four, verse seven, the end of all things is near. Therefore,
be alert and of sober mind, so that you may
pray for too millennia the Church has lived in this
tension of the already and not yet the last days
that stretch on the imminent return that hasn't happened yet.
(10:34):
This isn't God being slow. Tewod Peter three, verse nine
reminds us the Lord is not slow in keeping his
promise as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you,
not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Every day that Jesus doesn't return is another day of grace,
(10:55):
another opportunity for someone to turn to Christ, another chance
for us to share the Gospel with those who don't
yet know Him. While Satan scrambles to keep an Antichrist
candidate ready in every generation, God is patiently holding back
judgment so more people can be saved. That's the kind
of God we serve. Not reactive, not frantic, not worried,
(11:19):
but patient, purposeful, and loving beyond our comprehension. So what
do we do with this understanding? How do we live
knowing that the spirit of Antichrist is already at work,
that somewhere in this world Satan may have someone positioned
for his final play, that we're living in what Scripture
calls the last days. First, we stay rooted in Christ.
(11:44):
We don't get distracted by trying to identify the Antichrist
or decode prophecy timelines. Jesus told us we won't know
the day or our and he told us that for
a reason. Our job isn't to figure out the schedule.
Our job is to remain faithful, to aid in Him,
to let his word shape our thinking and his spirit
(12:04):
guide our living. Second, we develop discernment, We test the spirits.
We examine the ideas and ideologies that come at us constantly,
through media, through culture, through well meaning friends and family.
Does this align with Scripture? Does this point me toward
Christ or away from him? Does this require me to
(12:25):
compromise truth for the sake of unity or peace? Third,
we live with urgency, but not anxiety. Yes, time is short,
it has always been short. Yes, Christ could return today,
He could have returned yesterday. That urgency should motivate us
to share the gospel, to make the most of our time,
(12:46):
to invest in what matters eternally. But it shouldn't make
us anxious or fearful. We are not children hiding from
a storm. We are children waiting for our Father to
come home. Fourth, we extend grace. If Satan is always
positioning anti Christ candidates, then lots of people are being
(13:07):
influenced by Antichrist ideas, probably without even knowing it. We
were too before Christ opened our eyes. We are all
susceptible to deception, to pride, definding our identity in things
other than Jesus. So we speak truth, but we speak
it in love. We call out deception, but we do
(13:28):
it with compassion. We remember that we're not fighting against
flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of evil, as
we're told in Ephesians six, verse twelve. There's something deeply
comforting about this whole dynamic when you really think about it.
Satan has to be ready at all times because he
doesn't know when his time runs out. We get to
(13:52):
rest in God's perfect timing because we know our Father
holds every moment in his hands Satan scrambles and positions
and grooms and prepares because he's playing defense against a
game that he's already lost. We get to walk in
confidence because we're on the winning side and our victory
(14:12):
was secured at the Cross in the empty tomb. Every
generation has wondered if they were the last. Every era
has had its potential anti Christ figures. Some came terrifyingly
close to the descriptions and revelation, but none of them
were the one because it wasn't the time, and what
it is the time When that final figure does rise,
(14:35):
when the tribulation does begin, those of us who know
Christ will either be with him already or will be
sustained by him through whatever comes. Either way, we win
either way, we are held secure. Either way. Our future
is guaranteed not by our ability to decode prophecy, but
(14:57):
by Christ's finished work on the Cross. In the meantime,
we have work to do while Satan positions is counterfeits.
We get to point people to the real thing, while
the spirit of Antichrist whispers lies about identity and purpose
and peace. We get to speak the truth about who
Jesus is and what he offers. While the world stumbles
(15:19):
in darkness. We get to be light that's not metaphor,
that is our actual calling. Matthew five verses fourteen or
sixteen says you are the light of the world. A
town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do
people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead,
they put it on its stand, and it gives light
to everyone in the house. In the same way, let
(15:41):
your light shine before others, that they may see your
good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven. Every act
of kindness, every moment of integrity, every choice to speak
truth in love, every decision to forgive when we could
hold a grudge, every sacrifice we make for others, these
are ways we shine light into a dark world. These
(16:04):
are ways we push back against that antichrist spirit that
says it's all about us. The truth is relative that
we can find meaning apart from God. Satan may be
grooming in Antichrist, but we get to reflect the true
Christ to a world that desperately needs him. As I close,
remember this, the Uni Christ, whenever he does come, will
(16:27):
have his moment. It will be terrifying, it will be deceptive,
it will seem unstoppable, but it'll be brief, and it
will end with Christ's victory. Revelation nineteen, verse twenty describes
it simply, But the beast was captured, and with it
the false prophet, who had performed the signs on its behalf.
(16:48):
With these signs, he had deluded those who had received
the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The
two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake
of burning sulfur. That's it. Game over the figure Satan
spent in millennia preparing for the ultimate deception, the final Antichrist,
defeated in a moment by the King of Kings and
(17:10):
Lord of lords. We don't have to fear what's coming.
We don't have to be anxious about the times we're living,
and we don't have to lose sleep over which leader
or movement might be connected to end time's prophecy. We
serve a God who is already one, who holds all
of history in his hands, who works all things together
for the good of those who love him Romans eight
(17:33):
twenty eight. So we watch, but we don't worry. We
stay alert, but we don't live in fear. We recognize
the spirit of Antichrist when we see it, but we
respond with the spirit of Christ who lives in us.
We understand that Satan is scrambling to stay ready because
he knows his time is limited, but we rest in
(17:54):
the unlimited patience and perfect timing of our Father in heaven.
The Antichrist may be being groomed right now, probably is
most certainly is someone somewhere is in Satan's crosshairs, being
positioned for that final role. But we know something Satan doesn't.
(18:14):
We know the peace that passes understanding. We know the
love that casts out fear. We know the Savior who's
already conquered death, sin, and Satan himself, and that changes everything.
That lets us walk through these last days, however long
they last, with confidence, with joy, with purpose, not because
(18:36):
we're ignorant of the spiritual warfare around us, but because
we know who wins. Not because we're naive about the
darkness in the world, but because we carry the light
within us. And when Christ does return, whether that is today, tomorrow,
or a thousand years from now, we'll be ready. Not
because we figured out the timeline, but because we stayed faithful,
(19:01):
not because we identified the Antichrist, but because we knew Christ,
not because we were clever or vigilant enough, but because
He is faithful and will complete the work he began
in Us Philippians one, verse six. That's the gospel, that's
our hope. That's what carries us through whatever comes. Maranatha,
(19:24):
Come Lord Jesus, and until he does, We'll keep shining
light in the darkness, keep speaking truth and love, keep
pointing people to the only one who can save them
from the deception that's already at work in the world.
We live in the last hour we always have, and
we are held secure in the hands of the one
(19:46):
who knows exactly when that hour will end. If you
like what you heard, share this episode with other whom
you think might also like it. Maybe the person you
share it with or want to join this weirdo congregation too.
To listen to previous messages, visit weird Darkness dot com
(20:08):
slash church. That's weird Darkness dot com slash church. I'm
Darren Marler. Thanks for joining me weirdos, and until next time,
Jesus loves you, and so do I. God bless
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