Lawlessness in the Church = Emergence of the Antichrist

One of the main signs of the return of Jesus is a massive increase in lawlessness.

Lawlessness isn't described by "bad intentions"...

Lawlessness means doing whatever you think is best to achieve an objective, even a good one, regardless of the rules (ultimately, the word of God).

Lawlessness is ultimately Godlessness. The warning in the Bible is that lawlessness would be extended in the name of God. Hence, the false prophets that accompany it:

Matthew 24:10-12 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. (11) Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. (12) And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

The lawlessness being described in the Bible is describing the church and her attitudes. Lawlessness is expected from the world...it has always been lawless. When the church embraces lawlessness, that means the Antichrist is emerging from the Church. The church is the "check" on the world. When we leave our post for lawlessness, then lawlessness also increases in the world. This is happening now. The world suffers more from the Church abandoning holiness for expediency:

2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, (4) who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. (5) Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? (6) And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. (7) For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. (8) And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. (9) The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, (10) and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (11) And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, (12) that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The Antichrist, clearly, will come out of the Church. Every writer of the New Testament connected the falling away, the lawlessness that drives it, and the emergence of the antichrist.

Once you see it, you cannot "unsee" it:

1 John 2:18-19 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. (19) They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

Lawlessness will sound like good ideas for how to "help God" with his kingdom and the problems in the world in the last days. God is the one opening the seals, blowing the trumpets, and dumping out the bowls. God is causing the trouble to get people to repent. The lawless will be deceived by their own false sense of righteousness and think God would never judge them, so they must resist the trouble rather than repent. That is actually one of the main attributes of lawlessness:

Matthew 7:15-23 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. (16) You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? (17) Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. (18) A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. (19) Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (20) Therefore by their fruits you will know them. (21) "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. (22) Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' (23) And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

Lawlessness "fights fire with fire." Jesus called us to lawfulness and peace. You might ask "how could we be at peace when everything we care about is being shaken and under attack. How could we just pray?!"

If that is your thought, you are literally falling in to lawlessness. Jesus' answer to that ^ questions is: love your enemies, forgive those who trespass against you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who spitefully use you.

Lawlessness begets more lawlessness. The only way out of it is to begin to walk in the opposite spirit. The opposite spirit of Lawlessness, or an Antichrist spirit, is living in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the answer to lawlessness. He does things completely different than the world.

IF you are His, you do, too. If you have the same methods as the world to achieve your goals, you are like the world, not like Jesus... even if you have the SAME GOALS as Jesus!! The Antichrist has the same goals as Jesus Christ. Jesus will is going to be accomplished. He doesn't need help with that. His desire is that we conform to His ways, not accomplish His goals. His way is narrow, difficult, different...and the only one that will work.

Matthew 13:40-43 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. (41) The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, (42) and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (43) Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

You are literally witnessing the last moments before Jesus returns. He is sifting everything offensive out of His church. The lawless won't find out until it's too late...until it's all over!!

Right now the question we are to be asking of Jesus is this: how am I controlled by an antichrist spirit? (which means: where is lawlessness in me, where do I lack patience and faith for YOU to come and save me?)

If you never ask this question, you will never know until it is too late.

1 John 4:1-4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (2) By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, (3) and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. (4) You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

What this means is that if you don't believe Jesus came as a man... completely weak and relying completely on the leadership of the Holy Spirit... if you don't believe He requires you to live in the flesh just like He did:

1. Not asserting his own rights
2. Not protecting his own life or property
3. Not making people see things his way
4. Not complaining and backbiting
5. Speaking the truth in love to the point it got Him killed
6. Not protesting, shouting in the streets
7. Not giving up on the people around Him
8. Extending every chance to the people He was sent to, to save them, even interceding for the salvation of those crucifying Him while He was on the cross!

if you don't believe the exact same Spirit needs to be steering your life, yet you claim to want the same things as Jesus, you are of an Antichrist spirit.

Isaiah 42:1-8 "Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. (2) He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. (3) A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. (4) He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law." (5) Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, And spirit to those who walk on it: (6) "I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, (7) To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house. (8) I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.