Be alert, the church needs to watch out for ANY spirit of antichrist not just The Antichrist!

'Knowing their thoughts, he told them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and no city or house divided against itself will stand."' Matthew 12:25

Let me state this, often as Christians  we are always looking out for "The Antichrist" we often ignore the fact we are warned of many false messiahs, false prophets, and false teachers, all that come in a spirit of antichrist, whose goal is to lead the elect astray. This means Satan's goal with these is not to draw the world to him for he already has them. He also knows that he can't lead the church astray with things that appeal to the world, as few would follow. What can lead the church astray is to prey on those that view specific issues as more important than anything else, like abortion is more evil than any other sin, and use someone whose character expresses many other sins yet they claim to be against abortion, have them run for a major public office, and as the single issue voters ignore the caution signs and red flags, they view those that look at the caution signs and red flags as being sinners that need to repent or not even Christians. This causes division as believers start fighting with each other over this issue, some even becoming more focused on the issue than they are on Christ, some to the point where it appears they start to worship their stance on abortion instead of Christ, as they appear to point people to their view on abortion rather than pointing them to Christ and letting Him change the views. Remember the pharisees were known for drawing attention to themselves by saying "look at me, look at me worshiping God, look at how righteous I am by keeping the law;" but they were focused on self, on the law, on how they appear to the world, but not on God Himself.

Whether Trump’s legal challenges to the election results stick or not, I will say that Satan has used the "Pro-life" platform and Trump’s character to wrap this most recent election in a spirit of antichrist. Now I am not claiming Trump is "The Antichrist" or even one of many antichrists or false messiahs that as Christians we are to watch out for; what I perceived as at least a major caution sign may have just been him being extremely spiritually immature or at least that is what I hope although I am concerned seeing that many people appear to be worshiping him. What I will say is that many SINGLE ISSUE voters that view abortion as the only issue to decide their vote on are being used by Satan to divide the church. They fall under the false assumption that if one didn't vote for the candidate that was against abortion (Trump) then they either aren't Christians or are sinning and need to repent because they support abortion because they didn’t vote for the anti-abortion candidate. They often don't care about the character of the candidate being willing to turn a blind eye to a number of sins as long as they claim to be against abortion; regardless of the fact that we are given numerous examples, as well as multiple verses, that warn us about bad character, bad leadership, can corrupt those around them as well as those under their authority. Just like not everyone that voted for Trump agrees with his character, not everyone that voted against Trump is for abortions, and every third-party candidate that I looked into was somewhere on the “pro-choice” spectrum, whether it was to not take a stance either way or to be willing to allow it to the levels of the Democratic party’s position. Only 3% of voters actually used abortion as an issue when making their decision on supporting a candidate.

Now a slight warning about the misplaced worship that is resulting with this division; which if not part of the spirit of antichrist it is still a thing to be cautious of since anything that takes your focus off of Christ is moving your worship to that where your focus goes, and when you are pointing people more to your stance against abortion, than to the free gift of grace offered by faith through the sacrifice of Christ, you are in a way worshiping abortion as you are putting your focus on that, even if you mention God or your faith as a footnote for pointing to your stance against it. Just like low self-esteem is a form of pride, focusing on being anti-abortion over the Gospel is worshiping abortion.

Let me leave you with a couple of verses to dwell and reflect on along with Matthew 12:25.

'Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ' 1 Peter 5:8

'Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. ' 1 John 2:18

'Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. ' 1 John 4:1

' Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? ' James 4:11-12