Pastor Gavin’s Response:
Let me start by stating that:
1. Islam is not an extension of Christianity. Muslims and Christians are not serving the same God.
2. The high moral
lifestyle of any Muslim doesn't make him or her righteous before God according
to the scriptures. It is the cleansing by Jesus' blood and the righteousness of
Christ that enables any man to stand before God.
For easy understanding, I will love to define some terminologies.
1. ANTI: is a word that means against.
It also means a person who opposes a concept or principle.
2. AN UNBELIEVER: is one that is either aware of Jesus Christ or is not aware of Jesus Christ, but he has not accepted Jesus into his life to be his Lord.
3. ANTICHRISTS: These are individuals who are possessed with the spirit of the devil, that is; The Antichrist, (I'm not talking of all demon-possession cases). There are many and they are already in operation.
"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." 1 John 2:18.
“For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” 2 John 1:7
1 John 4:2-3 gives us a vivid definition of who the antichrists are:
“This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but 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.”
4. THE ANTICHRIST: is just one person, whom the Bible referred to as the lawless one, who will be revealed in the cause of time to draw people away from the worship of God to Satan.
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.
Another reference to The Antichrist is found in Revelation 13:1-6. I won't be writing more on this in this piece.
This is just to let you know that there is THE ANTICHRIST which is different from ANTICHRISTS. They all have the same agenda.
The antichrists are forerunners of The Antichrist.
The spirit behind Islam as a religion is the spirit of The Antichrist. By the definition of who an antichrist is, we ‘may’ say all Muslims are antichrists. But when you look at it contextually, you cannot say so. You can only say they are UNBELIEVERS.
ALL MUSLIMS ARE UNBELIEVERS.
It’s vital to understand the context that the book of 1st, 2nd & 3rd John was written. It was written to address the rise of falsehood that was rising against the original gospel. Many false teachings, false religions and variations of Christianity were emerging at that time, just like we have it today.
People entertained countless views regarding truth about the personality of Jesus Christ. Not forgetting that at the time of this writing of the letter of John, Islam had not come up yet, not until 500 to 600 years later.
The word antichrist means “against Christ.” People who say that Jesus is not from God are controlled by the spirit of the antichrist. Satan opposes Christ, and he desires to deceive people into a false view of who Jesus Christ is. The spirit of the antichrist teaches against Christ.
To twist the truth about Jesus Christ is to pervert the gospel. Satan works to spread lies about Jesus Christ so as to keep people in the dark:
In the light of all I have outlined, can Muslims be classified as antichrist?
From 1 John 2:18-19, an Antichrist is anyone that denies that Jesus came in the flesh
“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.” 1 John 2:18-19
Contextually, 1 John 2:18-19 is talking about a set of people who were once in the Christian folks but left to become an antichrist. In other words, they've become an enemy of the cross, turning people away from the cross to either themself or something else. False Prophets and False Teachers in the form of or guise of Christianity can be grouped into this category. Not necessarily Muslims, because they were never with the Church in the first place.
“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: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.” 1 John 2:22-23
However, when you read further to verse 22-23 of 1st John 2, it gives further explanation of the set of persons (antichrists) he spoke about in verse 18. Here, you will see some characteristics that indict Muslims, which put Islam into this category because of the core beliefs of Muslims that states that:
1. God doesn't have a son. Hence, to them Jesus is not the Son of God. Although, they believe that there is a Jesus, but to them that Jesus is not the Son of God.
2. Also, they don't
believe that Jesus died for the sins of mankind, hence "No
Resurrection".
And the Christian faith, among others, is anchored on this truth.
For these two reasons
Muslims can be classified as antichrists but not in the context of 1 John 2:18
-19.
It is important to know that it is not all unbelievers that are antichrists, but all antichrists are unbelievers.
But primarily speaking, an antichrist doesn't just believe in Jesus Christ but they are against the person of Jesus Christ and against the pure truth about the Personality of Christ.
An antichrist is one who wants to impersonate the persons of Christ Jesus and turn people's heart to himself or something else.
"And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." 1 John 4:3.
Hence, everyone that falls into this category as spelt out in 1 John is possessed by the spirit of the Antichrist.
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