Here's an article Brian wrote for RoL.
Recently, I have felt the Holy Spirit gently call me to write about the "Spirit of Antichrist." It is a subject that has been on the forefront of my thoughts as we swore into office a new President. Call it a gut feeling, but since the elections I have felt a strong inkling that this malignant spirit is washing over our country and the world in an unprecedented way.
Now I know that a topic such as this, can cause people to theorize and speculate about the end times. This is not the purpose of the article, for as Jesus said, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."(Mt. 24:36) My purpose in writing is to encourage every Catholic to lead a sacramental life, to pray daily, to avoid sin, to remain in a state of grace and to be vigilant and watchful.
Although there is not much written on the spirit of antichrist, I was able to discover that this spirit is a "spirit of deception" whose sole purpose is to prepare the way for the "man of iniquity." As I reflected upon this I envisioned a cooking mallet hammering away at a piece of steak. I believe the spirit of antichrist works in same way. He hammers away at the minds and hearts of Catholics, softening them to a point where they accept lies over the truth and believe in themselves rather than in God.
According to St. John the Apostle, the spirit of antichrist was already at work in the first century (1 Jn.4:3.) History has proven, especially looking back at the 20th century, how this "malignant spirit" has not slowed down, but continues to wage an all out campaign against the followers of Christ. Of course this war is nothing new, but what is new, is the casualties that are daily increasing amongst the Catholic population. This is most evident with the decreasing number of Catholics who attend Mass, the increasing number of Catholics who pick and choose which teachings of the Church they accept and those they reject and the growing percentage of Catholics who have abandoned the faith.
I believe the signs of the times point directly to the workings of the spirit of antichrist. In his second epistle to Timothy 3:1, St. Paul offers us a glimpse of what the end times will be like, "...people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God..." When I first read this I felt as if St. Paul did not write this centuries ago, but only weeks ago!
It is quite obvious that the current cultural climate, which is becoming darker and darker, proves that the spirit of antichrist is very much alive and active within our society. The question that remains is what are you, and me, going to do about it? A very popular preacher once said, "The times we live in are not for the faint hearted or lily livered." He was right! What is needed today are heroic Catholics who are not looking to just get by with their faith, but who are willing to live it, love it and hold on to it as their greatest possession. If we love our faith, our Church and our neighbor we must fight the spirit of antichrist with all our spiritual might. In other words, we must pray daily, live a sacramental life, learn our faith, make sacrifices and choose good over evil.
God bless.
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