The Incarnation of Satan

Will There Be A Man of Sin?

Someone contacted us last week advising that Min. G. Craig Lewis of EX Ministries is teaching there will be no one "man of sin", known as the Anti-Christ.  Instead, he asserts that there are simply many anti-christs as seen by the false prophets in the church throughout the age.  As a result, Min. Lewis says that the second coming of Christ can be any day now because that Wicked referred to in II Thessalonians has already been revealed.

I have often referred to Min. Lewis' teachings here and do believe that God has called him as a minister, in particular as it relates to edifying and liberating the church from the satanic influence in music.  However, while there are indeed many anti-christs as Min. Lewis states, the teaching denying the person of the Anti-Christ is not supported in Scripture.

In order to examine what the Scriptures say in this regard, I am posting below a message from the Omega Church & Ministries Center called "The Incarnation of Satan" which goes into this in some detail.

Satan's Looking for a Body

The word incarnate means to enflesh; to put something in flesh that was not previously in that form. Jesus Christ was a spirit being without a physical body before he was put in flesh. He came from the spirit world into the physical world to inhabit a physical body; He was incarnate.

Satan also is looking to be incarnate. He wants to get inside of a physical body so that he can be worshiped and receive all of the adulation and reverence due to a god on the physical plain.

He has been waiting on a man who will actually be the epitome of himself, so that he may indwell him: one who is proud, self-absorbed, etc. After all, no two beings can walk together unless they are agreed. I believe that the Antichrist is alive and well; being shaped, forged, and prepared for his time of manifestation on earth.

Down through time we have seen forerunners of this antichrist spirit. I John 2:18 states, “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.”

The antichrist is the antithesis of Jesus Christ. Christ gave himself for the world. The antichrist can only be something at the expense of everyone else, and this trait can be seen in all who carry that spirit. They seek to dominate others and be the object of their worship.

There have been many illustrations of this spirit throughout time. However, there is a difference between having the antichrist spirit and being the antichrist. There will be a literal antichrist, representing the incarnation of Satan in man. The one who I believe came closest to this in history is Hitler. Hitler referred to his regime as the Third Reich, which means the third “empire” in German. So, logically thinking, if his was the third empire, then there must have been a first and second empire. These may be identified by looking back at history.

Whom the Son Sets Free

The Truth Will Make You Free

The following series from Pastor Zac Poonen is one of the most important topics in the church: liberty. I wrote on this before in an article called "You Are Free", but Pastor Poonen goes into this topic in more detail.

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1

God compels us to stand in His liberty because there are forces in the world, especially in religion, which desire to bring us back into bondage after we have been set free in Christ. 

Enter the Most Holy Place

"Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. 

And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. And they brought up the ark of the LORD, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those did the priests and the Levites bring up. And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude. 

And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims. For the cherubims spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above. And they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the oracle, and they were not seen without: and there they are unto this day. There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. 

And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD." I Kings 8:1-11

Self-Destruction

Letting Man Have His Way

As a child, you may have once told your parents, "Just let me do what I want to do!"  You might have felt that your parents stood in your way and were obstacles to your right of free expression.  If only they would realize that you were your own person and just let you have your own way, things would be fine.  In our ignorance, we did not understand that the actions of our parents were actions of LOVE, meant to protect us from our crazy selves.

It is the same with God.  The commands He gives us to obey are for our protection, for our good.  Yet, the rebellious nature frequently misinterprets the loving arms of protection as bondage or restriction.

This is why, oftentimes, all that God has to do to judge man is to leave man to himself.  When God is convicting us of sin, correcting us, chastening us...this is all His mercy in our lives.  It is when He "gives us up" to our own ways that we need to be worried (Acts 7:42; Romans 1:24, 26, 28; II Thessalonians 2:11-12).  More on God "giving up" man to himself can be read in the article, "The Three Give Ups of God" from Pastor Gary C. Price at Omega Church & Ministries Center.

Below is a video from Dr. Helen Caldicott about the current nuclear fallout in Japan.  The purpose of sharing this is not to be an alarmist, as we know that God's hand is always on His people. However, it does highlight the depravity of the mind of man.  Even in our intellectual brilliance, the fallen nature of man can only eventually bring about his own destruction.

Without the omniscient and omnipotent hand of God covering mankind, the type of destruction outlined in this video - as a result of man's own devices - is inevitable.

Thou Art the Man!

"And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, as the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.

And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.

Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. 

Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 

Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun." II Samuel 12:5-12

It is times like these when I wish I had a bridge to sell, for there seem to be numerous people ready to buy it.  All it took was for there to be a public announcement that Osama Bin Laden was killed, and folks are celebrating in the streets.  Are you kidding me??