Lesson 3066

(Lesson 3066)(05-23-2020) 1 John 2:18-29
    “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. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.”
   
    In today’s quote, John, an apostle of Jesus Christ, a man who walked with Jesus most all of his life, a man who was an earthly brother of Jesus, tells us that many an “anti-Christ” went out from among them (The apostles). That tells me that there were turncoats and actual unbelievers among those who were the very closest to Jesus during the time of His ministry, men who had professed loyalty to Him. Those who after the death, burial, resurrection and and ascension of Jesus, began to teach false doctrines that were made up of parts of the gospel of Christ interfused with Jewish and Pagan beliefs, pomp, and rituals.
    I believe that what John said in today’s lesson can be verified by the dissension that formed between Paul and the other apostles, including Peter to some extent. From those discussions written of in Acts fifteen, it is easily understood that James and some of the other apostles had reverted to the ways of the Jews by requiring that the Gentiles be circumcized and to follow the Law of Moses.
    I am convinced that out of that dissension Roman Catholicism and many other insults to the true doctrine of Christ, were formed. ~