Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1266 | The Antichrist Is Here, You Already Know Who It Is & Why It Changes Everything

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

Bill Gates, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump all get labeled the Antichrist, but the truth may be far closer to home than anyone expects. The guys ponder why modern culture is obsessed with naming a single villain and what Scripture actually teaches about the spirit of deception at work in the world. They explore how darkness erodes relationships and how Phil once refused to compromise his teachings for financial gain. In this episode: 1 John 1, verses 1–7; 1 John 2, verses 11–14; 1 John 2, verses 18–27; 1 John 3, verse 24; 1 John 4, verses 1–4; 1 John 5, verses 4–5; 1 John 5, verse 19; John 16, verse 33; Romans 12, verse 21; Ephesians 2, verses 1–3; Ephesians 6, verses 10–18; 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 1–12 “Unashamed” Episode 1266 is sponsored by: Get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas when you download the FREE Upside App and use promo code UNASHAMED! Check out Zocdoc and stop putting off those doctors appointments. Go to https://zocdoc.com/UNASHAMED to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. https://ruffgreens.com — Get a FREE Jumpstart Trial Bag for your dog today when you use promo code Unashamed! https://myphdweightloss.com — Find out how Al lost 80+ pounds. Schedule your one-on-one consultation today by visiting the website or calling 864-644-1900 and mention "AL" http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ — Sign up now for free, and join the Unashamed hosts every Friday for Unashamed Academy Powered by Hillsdale College Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://open.spotify.com/show/3LY8eJ4ZBZHmsImGoDNK2l Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Chapters: 0:00 When the weather turns dangerous fast 5:12 Why grandkids change all your rules 10:21 The storm damage mistake most people wouldn’t make 15:34 Jase proves integrity isn’t normal anymore 23:48 The strange duck nobody expected to hunt 31:02 What honesty really costs and why it’s worth it 36:18 Why darkness destroys relationships 44:07 Is the Antichrist a person or something else? 53:12 How to recognize truth when deception feels normal — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So welcome back to Unashamed. We were, I know it's a few days in between releases when you guys are hearing this, but for us we just were talking about Jason's harrowing tale in the last night's interesting trip, I guess you would call it. It was, I think. You survived. You survived. So while you were doing all that, of course, you had. and I were texting a little bit because we were trying to figure out when we were going to record today. Yeah, your instincts were right. I'll send me a text about 10.30 and was like, are you delayed?

Because there's a lot of fog out there. And it went with Missy's story when she came to pick us up in the middle of nowhere, Arkansas. She couldn't see the road. It's very, it was, and that was what, that's why I sent you that because I had just, so we went, my grandkids, there's one place that they all can agree on. and which is unfortunate for me because it's all the way out at the mall it's it's olive garden they all like the olive garden which you know i'm okay with it as it's not the restaurant the restaurant

there's not much i can eat on there on my phd lifestyle but they all love it all the grain and nobody argues like other places we go i don't like that i don't like that it's one of those like it's one of those restaurants it's kind of from the back in the late 90s early 2000s that It's one of the only ones that kind of hung in there, right? Yeah, hung in there. It's still kind of a thing. Yeah, and people love it. And it's always crowded.

But yesterday, so we took the grandkids out there and mom wanted to go, which is great. I mean, that she's doing well enough to want to go out, you know, so she had been over to our house the night for her, and we cooked, and Hawke and Bill came over. But I said, Mom, we're going to go out to Olive Garden tomorrow and I. I said, you want to go with this? Yeah. It's one of my favorites, you know, as she is. And then I thought she'd probably forget about it Because then it was bad weather

And so then I thought it was raining earlier And so I thought well she probably didn't remember And then Anna said She just had her friend text and said Are we still going to Olive Garden? I said well the fact she remembered that I'm excited So I went by and got her But then we get out in this and it's just a soup you know

I mean it was really nasty And by the time we got back and dropped her off That's when I texted and I was like Man this is this is nasty Yeah Nasty situation Imagine flying in it out Yeah I cannot imagine

I'm glad I was there. I will have to admit, it was the only event I've ever done while being soaking wet. So, it was interesting. So, Maddie, make a mental note when you go do an event. Bring a change of clothes just in case it rains. Even if you're going to be back the same day. Of course, unfortunately, like it is, you go to a restaurant. So we go to the restaurant and they had this little, you know, you got the menu,

but then they got this little, we brought these back and it's in the middle of the table. So it's like a special thing. And we looked at, oh, you know, we hadn't seen that in a while. And so we ordered, Mom did, Lisa did, I did off of that. So the woman, we order, goes back, she comes back, and she says, we're out of this. And I was like, oh, man. I mean, why do you have it on the table if you don't have it? And so then, so Mom had to change hers.

Lisa had to change hers. And so then she goes back. Then she comes back two minutes later. And what I had ordered, and now what mom had ordered, she said, we're out of the sauce that goes on that. And I was like, really? And then she says, but the chef says he can do this. And this is back to the sausage making. I was like, yeah, well, just do it.

Just bring it out. We'll see what happens. And it was really good. But I was like, why do you have things on the menu when you don't have them in the thing? Maybe this one my dad never liked to eat out. No. And I'm kind of the same way.

We just assume cook. But the grandkids love it. And you tend to do things for your grandkids. You wouldn't do otherwise. Zach, you'll know one day. Why that your kids are all getting married. You know, it's funny because Ruth's four, and I feel like I'm in a weird spot. Like I'm like half dad, half granddad.

It's a weird feeling. But she gets a lot more than like our other kids got. She's not as well disciplined as the others were. Yeah, because we had a lot more energy back then. Yeah, we were like, hey, we thought we had to do it perfect. So we were ruling with an iron fist. And now we're ruling with a just like, well, be careful. You'll create another jump, which is me chainsawing and him pulling.

in a cart behind me getting some sticks. Can I borrow some of that wood? He came over before I came up here tonight. And he's like, I have a chainsaw question. Of course, my house was just crazy. We had insurance people in there, which, by the way, the insurance guy, he was like, you know, the insurance will pay you for cleaning out your driveways, you know, with all my trees and all. because I did it myself. And he said, so I just need to get your hours on that.

And I thought, I said, about three hours. And he said, three? I said, yeah. I was thinking, well, if you can do that quicker than three hours, I'm pretty good with the chain. So I was kind of, and he said, oh, no, I'm just not used to dealing with people who are honest. He said, I thought you were going to say three days. I said, well, maybe four.

But, you know, I was like three hours. This man just gave you the inside track as to the whole problem with insurance in our society. They all plan on being people being liars. Yeah, he looked at that big stack of wood and he thought, three hours. I was like, three hours. I was pretty proud of it. Yeah, you were like, I'm impressed. Yeah, I was being honest.

I thought, why are you shocked at integrity? But isn't our society? It's our society. You are shocked when someone tells the truth. It's why the health care system is broken because you get two prices. You get the price of corruption and then you get the true price of something. Well, I even kind of chastised miss a little bit because she was like, I mean, we're basically fine, you know? And I was like, well, these stains on the ceilings indicate to me that if you go up and look at that ass,

There may be some trouble because there's two huge stains, you know, because of water leak. And she said, well, yeah, I mean, true. But, I mean, we're basically fine. I was like, babe, he's out here to figure out the damage. And you're acting like, don't worry about it. Why is he here? There's literally trees. I was getting him out of the pool and a pair of chest waiters.

We called the pool guy. He comes out. He's like, I can't do this until this tree's out of the pool. So I got. Well, my pool is empty. My pool is empty. A pipe burst and drain my pool. Think about this.

Because I was like, I'm going to get this tree out of my pool. And it's a tree limb. It's not a tree. But it doesn't look very big on the picture. I don't know why, but I could not lift it. I had to use leverage. Limbs are heavier than they love. Yeah.

I mean, it was probably, you know, a little bigger around than your leg, I guess. But it's long. I mean, it was a big pine lamp. If it had a fall on you, it'd have killed you dead. That honesty, though, is the way to do it. That's that, Jay, you, I don't know if you know this or not, but your buddy,

Jay Stone, I guess your son-in-law when I was in town. Why is he named my buddy? He's my nephew-in-law. And we're friends. Yeah, so he's just some sarcasm. No, no, sarcasm. He said it like he was about to say.

Your buddy, Jay. You let a buddy, Jay. Now, he said, you got to watch this thing we did, the new episode. I guess y'all had filmed something like a duck hunt y'all went on. And there's a scene where you're in the blind. This is, it's on YouTube.

And you're in the blind talking about the new duck call that they've come out with. And it was the most hilarious way of reminding me of Phil. And Willie tells that story of Phil, like when he had two different duck calls at the place and Phil's like, yeah, you don't want to buy that expensive one. Grab this one over here. This one I use.

And we'll say, no, we're trying to sell. duck calls. But you were talking about this new single read of duck call and it was hilarious the way you were doing it because you were kind of like it was a real honest frank discussion. But I was like, I bet they'll actually sell a bunch of duck calls like that because Jason's having a real honest interaction. It is shocking. Here's what happens. And all my speeches and our company was built on authenticity and honesty. And there's a craze that developed in the state of Arkansas. and they call it Arkansas style. And this year was the first year that I've ever gone to one of these places and had actual success. So for years, I was like, they're talking about this Arkansas style,

which is basically taking a duck call and wailing on this thing from the moment you get there to the time you leave. I mean, you wake up in the middle of the night. Oh, yeah. And it's just like an auctioneer. Yeah, five, give me ten, give me ten.

So what their thought is, is they're trying to sound like tons of ducks. Right. Because there's a lot of ducks in the woods, right? Yeah. So every time I would get a call in the duck call room that would do that, I would try to make it stop doing all that and just sound like one. And so it's kind of a corporate versus a one duck mentality. So financial resolutions are great, but let's be. real. Budgets don't reset on January 1st. So between post-holiday credit card bills and getting back to your regular routine can be tough because cash can be tight. The free upside app gets you cash

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and credit card rewards alone. Every single week they give $1 million in cashback, which is incredible because I'm actually using this. And so when I fill up a tank of gas, I'm getting close to $20 back every time I fill up my truck with diesel. Upside is given back $1 billion to its users. This is the real deal. To find out how much you could earn, download the free Upside app and use promo code, unashamed, to get an extra 25 cent back on every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's an extra 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of gas using our promo code, Unashamed. It wasn't because I was necessarily

saying it wouldn't work. It just made my head hurt. And it's kind of like somebody shooting over my head. Because I'd have people send me video. and they're just raining in there. So the day we actually did it, I never picked up my call for 10 minutes, but they started subsiding because the ducks wouldn't come in. Now, to their credit, they backed off, and they were blowing this new call

that literally people are trying to order because it is, I think, the best version of that out there because I have a couple of guys who I hunt with That's all they use. They're called cut downs and their single reads. But they said, this is it. So I'm trusting them. They're like, you have pulled it off.

And I was like, well, great, because I can't even blow it. And so I was saying that, yes, I've made fun of this, but I did have that experience where it worked. We killed 32 mallards in about an hour. Well, I'm not an idiot. This He's pragmatic. I finally saw this work because there were a ton of ducks and they had been used to all this racket

because they were happy ducks. And I thought there is a place for it. So I give it my blessing. We'll sell it, especially since my hard-headed buddies are saying, it's the bet. You've got it. And you don't even know what you have.

And so that was kind of the bit we did because ever, you know, look, my brother and other people that work at that command,

they didn't like that I wasn't holding it up saying, now this is the best call you'll ever blow. I'm like,

I don't use that thing. But I heard it's fantastic and there is a place for it. And so I was brutally honest. And I said,

what's funny about that, Jayes, is that I was, the event I was at last week is the Q&A. And of course, the Q&A is you get

everything. You know, you get stuff about the show, you get stuff about what we just talked about. But some woman

asked me. She said, I noticed when I watch your family, you have these things around your neck. What are they called? And I said, a lander? And she said, yeah. And she said, they have all these kind of duck calls, all these calls on them. I said, yeah. She said, why? Don't you just need one? And I said, well, because that's how we made money. And, of course, the crowd laughed because I was like, we need a bunch of guys. But you were joking. I was joking. There's a lot of ducks. Well, so what I said was, then I explained that you and dad came up with, I said, there's a lot of different birds and they all make different sounds. I said the mallard hymn.

So I went through the little, you know, five-minute discussion of the duck call sounds with her. And I said, so when you're seeing somebody, and then I explained to her that if you're sitting in front of a bunch of decoys, you have people in your blind blowing different kind of bird sounds is because that's who's out there in front. We're trying to make the ducks think that. So it was just a, she just thought, well, I don't. would you need more than one because you only have one mouth?

Well, look, this is interesting. I didn't know we were going to talk about this, but I have in my hand, viewer mail, viewer mail. This was all my desk. When I came in, are you nervous right now, Maddie? I opened this card before we started this podcast and read it and went, huh, and I threw it over to the side. But now that y'all brought it up, Jace, my husband asked me to write this, which is weird.

Why wouldn't he write it? Regarding your interest in developing a new call. So I thought, ooh, where's this going? For a black-bellied whistling duck, which I will admit, if you'd asked me about that two years ago, I'd never heard one or ever seen one. But we've even been inundated by, which I called a Mexican tree whistling ducks.

Yeah. or tree whistling ducks, some version of that. There's a little pond right up there by the church that there's about a hundred of them on. Well, guess what? The state of Louisiana, I'm not sure if this is global as far as America. Yeah. But they actually add, you can shoot six of them. Really?

Oh, yeah. Look, they're everywhere. But I haven't seen one in the wild during legal duck season. I only see them in the spring is when I said. Yeah. But I heard there actually. good to eat. Well, you know, a Cajun.

I was somewhere and a Cajun said, if you tried them Mexican whistling ducks? The Cajun's like, well, I was waiting to meet a Cajun to tell me if it was okay. Because that's how we've developed all the things we can eat. Don't ever, don't listen to your biology teacher in school if you're young. You need to find a Cajun and say, how is this? Just think about the things. Well, garlic and butter make it more work.

We introduce to the world to eat. eat like oysters and crawfish. That came from Cajuns. They looked at it and said, let's try it. But they were late. Let's try it.

And you stand back and look out of the way. Put it on a cracker, dude. Put it on a cracker. But here's what I found interesting, Zach. We live in Gainesville, Florida. Oh, come on.

Go Gators. Well, this is where you're... I mean, you don't need to worry about a duck car if you're living in Gainesville. There are no ducks in Gainesville. Well, evidently, they have a lot of blackbelly whistling ducks. and they would like,

they were like, call us if you want to study the sounds. So I guess they're recording. Oh, yeah. But I've heard them. So who is this? Thank you, Suzette,

but I know what one sounds like. But that's not a bad idea. And so I said all that to say this. I remember the maddest I've ever seen my brother when he took over the company was my dad said, I'm going to make a video called the Ten Commandments of Duck Honey. And I'm going to rank in order of importance, one through ten, the things you do.

Well, my brother couldn't get past the back where it named the Ten Commandments because, look, duck calls was number seven. And Willie come in there and said, because, you know, my dad was intimidating. And be honest. Look, I got a recommendation on this. I love the idea, the project, your segueing, you know, the law and the Bible with duck hunting, you know, the Genesis 9. Great. So he set him up to say, but we need to move number seven to number one.

And my dad said, can't do it. And it was like, why not? And he's like, well, that's not the truth. we we this is the truth right of the 10 commandments if we're going to call them 10 commandments they got to be right and he's like what what's your what's your beef there willie well he's like we make duck calls and sell them this is how we make a living but if you if you find that somewhere on the internet i'm sure it's out there guess what's number seven duck calls as the order of importance well reminded me a contribution i made later

in years, when we were doing Celebrate Recovery and 12-step stuff, you know, A.A. Someone in the organization, I don't know if it's you or dad or whoever, came up with the idea of a duckaholic, you know, and so then we had to have the 12 steps to be a duckaholic.

Because we were, you know, we were embracing. We were twisting that as a positive, not obvious an alcoholic, but a dogaholic. And so I helped contribute to writing the 12 steps of a duckaholic And they're still out there somewhere, I guess, too. I don't know.

I need to try to find that somewhere. I got an interesting email from a listener. I was trying to pull it up. I can't remember the gentleman's name, but it was the most hilarious thing I've ever read. I was on my way down to see you guys a few weeks back, and we were getting a little bit hungry, so we stopped somewhere in Georgia at a Chick-fil-A,

because that's what you did. It's about the only fast food place. I eat at. I stopped at the Chick-fil-A. And that's the home base for Juke-Pilley. It is. Atlanta, Georgia. And I noticed this couple that were up there at the counter, and they caught my attention

because the woman was just so nice. I saw her talking to some of the staff members and giving them hugs. I mean, she seems like a really sweet lady. I think she had on like a Harley-Davidson T-shirt, and her husband was a kind of a, you know, looked like one of us had the kind of bigger beard, white beard. And so he sends an email to whatever the email account is. I don't even know what it is. And then Jen forwarded it to me.

And he said, I think I might have just saw you, Zach, in whatever, Georgia at the Chick-fil-A. And he said, you looked at me like this guy knows who I am. He said, and I looked at you like I know who you are. And so he said, and then he said, you went down and sat down to eat. your chicken sandwich and he said I had to go to the bathroom do number one this is on the email he says so I go in the bathroom he said but I couldn't wash my hands because I was going deer hunting later on that afternoon I didn't want to wash my hands and have that soap smell on my hands and I because I know you're probably wondering why I didn't introduce myself to you so I'm telling you why it's just I came out and when

I saw you eating your fries and you had your hands on your fries I was like I can't shake this man's hand a good conscience knowing what I just didn't do in the bathroom. So I just walked on by and gave you a nod. But that was me if you were wondering. I was like, I've ever got it. That was an interesting way to let you know that. Wherever you are, I saw you, and I did see you. He probably saved you a bout of hepatitis A right there.

It's hilarious. I kind of appreciate the honesty. I do too. We're talking about honesty. That seems to be the theme of our podcast. To put that in letter form got a little weird. Yeah. But that's okay.

Well, I was, either the guy's really weird or he's really funny. One of the two. I think he was being funny. And if that's you and you were being humorous, that was hilarious. If you, if that was you, you weren't trying to be funny. That was a little weird. I'm just going to say. You know, sometimes it's really difficult to find the doctor that you actually like it.

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Stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to Zocdoc.com and go to Zoc doc doc.com slash unashamed. And go to Zoc doc doc.com slash unashamed. Thanks Zock doc doc. For sponsoring this message. Today, we seem to be talking about integrity and honesty, which is also very much highlighted in this text. And we kind of teased about the Antichrist, which I'm going to read that text in just a minute. But Jason didn't want to leave this section without at least reading. John sort of, and when he gets to the end of kind of this round, because I think we've said it

before, it's almost like waves of his writing. It's like a sermon, I think it's what you said, where, you know, you make a point, and then you kind of go back and develop the point, and then you come back and make the point again. And so it's more like that as opposed to just like Paul's writing, which is kind of kind of, you know, a whole thought that runs all the way through the letter. I mean, I do think it's bookended on that in verse one and verse five where he says, this is the message. He introduces Jesus as the life and our fellowship with him.

And there's a little theme in the letter or sermon where he's, you're trying to figure out, because he'll say like in verse four that we've read or verse three that we've read many times when he says and our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ and so you're like well which one because he echoes that in the last verse where he says and that we may know him who is true we are in him who is true even in his son Jesus Christ he is the true God of eternal life. And you're like, well, which one? Yeah.

And the answer is yes. He's concluded that this man that he went around with and followed is God in a human form. And I think it's incredible. Yeah, and that's the underlying theme of the whole book. So he has these two bookends where he's like, this is the message, God is light. In him there's no darkness. And then when he gets to chapter 3 and verse 11, He's like, this is the message.

You heard from the beginning. Right. We should love one another. Right. So we made that contrast in the last podcast about light and dark, which took us down through verse 11 of chapter 2. But then he does something interesting. It's almost like a poem or a song.

It seems like a song to me. It's like a refrain. Remember, it was at a house church. So they probably sang it. I mean, you know, some of these letters, they would definitely do that. And so he gives this little repetitive verse of a song or poem. And I thought it was interesting the way he frames it because he basically is talking to this house church. And he's describing at every level of growth he would be.

He says, and I want to read it. Verse 12, it says, I write to you, dear children. And as you said, how many times he say, I write to you, I write, he said it over and over. I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. And we talked about that with the atonement idea. Then he says, I write to you fathers. So we went from children to fathers because you have known him who is from the beginning, which is back to his reference in the first four verses when he talked about the creation

and the role of Christ. I write to you young men. So he's addressing three different groups here because you have overcome the evil one. And then he repeats it again. I write to your dear children because you have known the father. I write to you fathers because you have known. own him who is from the beginning. It's like a song. I write to you young men because you are strong and the word of God lives in you and you have overcome the evil one. So it's almost like at any

stage, the way I read it, it was any stage of where you are in your growth as a Christian or even as a human being at every level, whether you're very young, you get into the deal where you're building a family and you get into life later, you're a father and you become a patriarch of your own clan. And at every stage of those, there's different things that motivate us. And I just thought it was really interesting the way he framed that. And Zach, we were talking about in the last podcast how the darkness tends to always be an enemy to relationships.

Yeah. You know, whether it's marriage, whether it's just taking advantage of some person and not seeing this person as a person, using people. and we talked about all the darkness of that. And it's not having a concern about relationship. And so John, I think right in the middle of this whole conversation, because the next three verses we've talked a lot about, and that was the comparison of the worlds,

he sets that up by reminding people at any stage of relationship with other people. It's so important to be a man of God. I mean, this is how you overcome evil. This is how you go back to the beginning. This is how you know who God is. And he says those themes over and over and over again. And I just think it's a beautiful, you know, clip to be able to remind us about why this is so important what we're discussing. Well, the reason why darkness kills the relationship is because to be in relationship is to actually be seen and known.

And so that's kind of the epicenter of like what it means to be the relationship. Yeah. That you know each other and that you're known by each other. So going back to the Garden of Eden, you think about what blocked is. intimacy in that scenario when they ate the fruit and became sinners for the very first time. What was the, like, what was the result of that in terms of how did it block the relationship first with God, then with each other? What they did was they, they blocked themselves from being seen, and they did it with fig leaves. But the, but the goal is let's put a barrier up in between

your sight and then, and then me, and that way you can't see the real me. And so what darkness does, it just blinds sight, right? So if you think about the idea of darkness is you can't see in it. You're stumbling around, you can't see, you can only just kind of feel your way through it, but you can't really see or know what's on the other side of you

because everything is dark. And then when you think about, well, how would you be able to see? We just turn the lights on. You turn the light on, and all of a sudden, oh, wow, I can see the other person standing there, and now we can actually look at me in my face and talk to me.

And you know this is true when you ever, like, if you've been married long enough, and your wife may have said something like this, I just, I don't feel like I'm seen, you know, or some language about that. Like, Jill said it to me before. I just don't think you see me.

I don't think you notice me. I don't feel like you're listening to me. That's darkness. I mean, literally what it is. And so that's why the darkness is actually a killer of intimacy and a killer of relationships because it blocks us from knowing one another. Yeah, exactly.

I wanted to bring up in that poem where he says, you have overcome the evil one. Yeah. Because later he's going to say that the whole world in 1st John 5, verse 19, is under the control of the evil one. You say, well, how do I overcome the evil one? Well, when you look up this word in the Greek lexicon, fascinating enough, in John 1633, you find it,

where he says, I have told you these things so that in me, you may have peace. In this world, because he's fixed to launch in to don't love the world, and all the cravings, the lust, we talked about that last time. But in this world, you'll have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world. Yeah.

And so the connection to the evil one to the world is obvious. Ephesians 2 speaks to this. there's a spirit of the evil one that is at work in the world to take, take them captive, prisoners, make them slaves, all these different verses. Ephesians 6, we talked about that. Yeah, and he does it through lies and murder and mayhem and death and deceit, deceiver, and accusation and all this. And remember, he's not immortal. It's not dualism, right, Zachom, and it's not God and Satan as if they're equals. He's a created being, but he has a network.

network, as Joe Beam describes it in his great book about spiritual warfare, seeing the unseen. It's a network of evil that from another realm, but that impacts us heavily. And it's not dualism because that realm was created. And so another place this idea is used is Romans 1221, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. And so in his letter in first John or sermon, you see this idea of the world come up right after this. As he's talking in the relationships and fathers and sons, you've overcome the Eve. When he says that twice, he also says it, you know, in verse 14 of chapter 2.

But I want you to notice where it uses that word again, because I think this is the key verse. Because we're fixed to talk about, you know, who is this Antichrist or the Spirit of the Antichrist is what it's really all about here. from John's perspective. And we can read this later, the first three verses about testing every spirit of chapter four. Right. But when he gets to verse four of chapter four, I love this. You dear children, because there's that same phrase that he starts the song. I write to dear children, because your sins have been forgiven.

I write to young men because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the father. And remember at this point, this is, John the elder. He's always being an apostle, but now he's an older man. Yeah, and everybody's a child compared to him at this stage. You dear children are from God and overcome them. Well, who is them? Well, the spirit of the Antichrist, this is chapter four and verse three, which you have heard is coming, and even now is already in the world. I try to keep my dogs happy because they're performing a function. They are

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This passage should be up on your wall somewhere. Because the one who is in you, is greater than the one who is in the world. Well, you say, well, who is in us? Well, he said that in chapter 3 in verse 24. He says, those who obey his commands live in him and he and them. And this is how we know that he lives in us. We know it by the spirit he gave us.

So then he uses this same word again in chapter 5 in verse 4, this overcoming, being an overcomer. when it says, for everyone born of God, well, this goes back to this picture that he described in John 1, being born from God, not of human decision or natural descent, but born from above, or born again, as he mentions in chapter 3. For everyone born of God, a new creation, think that, overcomes the world.

This is the victory that has overcome. come the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only who believes that Jesus is the son of God. I just think it's a fantastic, if you put all that together, it's very powerful. Oh, yeah. It's interesting when you think about who is the Antichrist. I mean, you know, this is a big discussion because I grew up, you know, every time we get like a Democratic president or something, people in my circle, that's the Antichrist. Or Bill Gates, you know, he's the anti-Grist. He's the Antichrist. Obama's the Antichrist. Bill Gates is the Antichrist. Elon Musk is the anti-Christ. And right now, I haven't paid attention too much to the discussion, but even Peter

Teal is going around having this conversation about the Antichrist. I don't really know his perspective on it, but this is like a big time like pop culture, you know, like idea, particularly like in the evangelical underbelly with like the Left Behind series and, you know, all that that came out back in the, I don't know when that came out, the 90s. And so, like, this idea is there's this figure who's going to come and he's going to set up this counter kingdom and he's going to draw all these people away. Zach, you remember the series,

and I think they've now redone them again. What was it called, the Omen? Where, you know, the kid was born, and he had the 666 under his hair line. And, you know, it was like a famous movie back in the, 70s, I think, and it was a series that came out, and it was just what you're talking about. It was all based on this idea of this antichrist, and it was all pointed through prophecy and scripture, and the whole thing was that, you know, he would destroy people. And the movies

were kind of entertaining, but I never understood the background of it when I was a kid. It was a scary movie. But that's kind of what you're talking about. Yeah, I think it's like we want that to be true in some capacity because it's easier to think, man, if there's just a head of the snake that we can chop off and then the whole thing's done, that's a lot more comforting because we have a direct target that we can access and we have a direct battle that we can engage in.

We got super duper clarity on it. But what the picture painted here is a little more different because it's not necessarily singling the idea that Antichrist, according to John, in a particular person, but as Jay's pointed out, more of the spirit of the Antichrist. And it's not necessarily a future event either because he says, verse 18, just to reiterate children,

it is the last hour. And as you have heard, that Antichrist is coming. So now many Antichrist have come. So it's whatever, it's tying this idea of the spirit of the Antichrist in the current age that they were currently in in that moment. And I would argue,

probably along with a host of, other people that that that that spirit continues today like there's actually any christ today and and um it's not i don't know you know this idea and i get it i'm not like you know i know there's a lot of diversity of view on this but to single this out into a particular person we're trying to figure out identify that um yeah i don't i don't i don't think that that's the point of the text here i mean this is clearly talking about a particular kind of spirit that as jay said in the last podcast he said, what did you say? You ended it with the way you phrase it.

It's almost like they're anti-Christ or something. I forgot you, like, broke the word down, but when you said it, it was like. I think we over thinking. I mean, if you look at where this word is used in the New Testament, you have any ideas how many times it's used, anti-Christ? I don't.

I think you'll be shocked. It is used five times. Four of them are in First John. Yep. And the other one is in second John. You're like, what? Well, how many books have been written? Yeah.

And movies made, all the stuff we were just talking about. And First John 4, which is mentioned, seems to kind of clarify what he meant by this. And it's not very hard. I mean, it's like we were talking about hunting before. If someone is anti-meat, they call them a vegetarian. Or vegan or whatever. Yeah. Or, you know, the animal rights or PETA, whatever, what are they want to call?

And you see, it's not like one person, it's a spirit that you can catch pretty quickly. They're like, someone would come up and they're like, oh, I don't, you know, I don't eat chicken. I don't. I was like, well, here's some shrimp. No, I don't want to eat. It's like, what do you eat, you know, things that grow? Oh, okay. Well, you're, so it doesn't really have to be like it's one.

president somewhere who is the anti-meat person. You know what I'm saying? The vegetarian and chief. I mean, we get it. I can recognize that spirit pretty quickly. And I don't care. I don't care that you want to just eat things that grow. Fine. Dad would always say that.

He'd say, hey, I love veggies. They're delicious. But don't tell me I can't eat my meat for crying out loud. But I think you have to read chapter four where it says, dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Because I wanted to read that because even in Ephesians 2 talking about the evil one, it uses that same idea when it says, just think about how this flows. He says, as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live

when you followed the ways of the world and the ruler of the kingdom of the earth. There is an evil one, but he is a creative being. there's a common it says the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient well you can pick up on the spirit even i mean the evil one is a created being but if you talk to people well he's around every corner he's in your bedroom well how is he's not an he's not an immortal umnipotent omnipresent individual now i'm if you're not i'm not an immortal umnipresent individual now i'm if you you've come face to spirit with him, the actual entity, I'm sure that would be frightening. Terrifying.

But, you know, the earth's a big place. But the spirit of that is all around. I mean, you can pick up on it. So I think that's the better way to view it. I think what happened is when you get to, where is it, Second Thessalonians 2, it uses, the malolousness. Well, it uses the man of lawlessness. Well, there's Antichrist.

But it never says antichrist. You've just made that as part of this Antichrist theme that you're going with on who is the – Look, I've got a guy who I love dearly. He's one of my best friends in the world. And he got to second Thessalonians too in his Bible study, and he's never gone forward or backwards. He wants to know who the man of sin is, and he wants a detailed account. I want his name. I want his name.

Because he's like, nothing else can happen until. that guy's revealed. And I usually go that same patch. I was like, the one in us is greater than any spirit out there and any man. And I was like, I think it was a localized issue in Second Thessalonians with a global impact. Because it's just like the spirit of the Antichrist, the man of sin. I don't need to know exactly if that's one person. I see that in men everywhere who, because if you read Second Thessalon,

on his two. It kind of gives you a pitcher. He's in cahoots with the evil one, so it's not the evil one. That's what trumps people up on it. But I'll just read it. I think it's worth to read. Before you do, let me say this, because I think that that framing is important of kind of what you just said. When you look at the whole context of First John, the whole book, the whole letter, it's not, he's not framing up an argument of the church versus Rome or the church. versus a future dictator that's going to come in the future. That's not the framing of the text. The framing of the text is truth versus deception,

life outside of Christ versus life inside of Christ. It's truth versus deception. And so it's the illumination. That's why the darkness and the light, that's how we interpret this whole discussion is that. And when you're seeing it in that lens, I think it allows you to think about this, more probably how the text reads naturally more of a spirit that is deceiving people.

In this case, you know, I would argue that this is people who are part of the church, have left the church, like maybe those who have fully deconstructed and now using that deconstruction platform to draw other people away from Christ, like explicitly trying to pull people out of the kingdom. They're trying to say, no, don't follow him. It's a lie. I've been there, done that. And that's what I think this is like false teachers and like real false teachers, not like just accusations or throwing at people, but real teachers who are trying to, who have infiltrated the church and are trying to destroy it from with them.

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And so the good folks at Ph.D. weight loss taught me that one thing about metabolism, and it's unlocked everything for me. Here's a picture of me on YouTube if you're watching at the beginning. Here I am now, 80 pounds later, and the weight is staying off. This past year has been quite the health improvement as well as just being more active and love and life a lot more. So I know you've probably been thinking about it. Is this the year I jump in there? I'm telling you, go for it.

If you call now, they'll give you two free weeks in the program and they pay for your food so you can finally see real results without more trial and error. If you're done with the Oyo dieting and want clarity, call Ph.D. Weight Loss now and mention Al. No more guessing, just answers. Call them at 864-644-1900 and say, Al. That's 864-644-1900, or you can visit my PhD weightloss.com. So you have Second Thessalonians 1 in verse 6, where it's like, God is just, he'll pay back trouble to those who trouble you, give relief to you or trouble. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.

He will punish those, which is really a theme in 1 John, those who don't know God, because John keeps bringing that up. You know him. You know him from the beginning. You have this relationship. You're in this partnership,

fellowship, participating with the triune God on a daily minute basis. So it's not going to be like you stand before. God and you're like, oh, did I make it? Well, you're in him. This has been this relationship

has been going on way more intimate than a correspondence. You're walking in him, in the light and praying and talking and representing. So, it's not going to be a shock. Either way. Deep down, everyone

knows. And that's why I asked the question. I asked it last night in my event. I'm like, are you ready to meet your maker? It's a simple question. You stand before God, how are you going to be? Don't be surprised when he comes back. That's First Thessalonians 5-4. Remember First Thessalonians 4 is about we certainly, we don't grieve like the rest of men who have no hope.

So why am I plane, you know, it could have crashed. Guess what? Okay. You're ready. I hate it, you know. But for the people I'm leaving behind, I'll miss my family for a little bit. But, oh, I'll see them again. I mean, this is part of our journey.

So, but when you read that, so then it goes to second to the shorthodox too, so that you already got that kind of like, well, this is the context, him coming back. But watch how this gets so distorted. It's because it says, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus and us being gathered to him, we ask your brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report, or letter supposed to have come from us saying that the, day of the Lord has already come.

Well, this is not unlike 1st John, where they had a group of people saying, hey, there's Jesus. He's not the son of God. Right. And he basically calls him anti-Jesus. That's right. Because they're denying that Jesus is the son of God, which is why the Antichrist got developed. I think people are overthinking this.

You can look at your life and just, we watch you and say, are you in Jesus? or are you anti-Jesus? Right. It's pretty evident. Yeah. I don't think it's that hard to figure out. And we have the perspective of history to look back to see just that. This word, dowsatism, which comes from the Greek word dachio, which means to appear or to be seen.

So what they were saying was, is Jesus, he looked like he was a man, but he wasn't really a man. Well, right. So that's where this whole thing came from. And then Gnosticism comes later after John. which then takes that even further. So, I mean, I'm saying historically, we can look back and see what's developing in this mindset about saying

that Jesus really wasn't here in the flesh. Well, that's what they were said. Yeah, I think some of it, though, I don't know if it's just that someone is not in Christ. I think these are people who are intentionally trying to persuade people and to see people away from Christ. Because the reason why I say that is because in verse 26,

he says, the reason why I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. So these are, I think these are actual. And lead you astray, he says. Yeah, yeah. So like you, and this is really important because there are, and look, I mean, especially like now with TikTok culture, Instagram, you know, somebody was telling me the day about a particular professor

who's done a, I don't know if this guy was ever a Christian or not, but he's certainly anti-Christ and everything that he's doing is trying to pull people away from Christ. And this particular person, like, their faith was really damaged by this person's particular, this particular person's content because they were making these really incredibly compelling cases of why the Bible's not real, why Jesus is it, who he said he was, all these things. And this person was being drawn. They were being deceived.

And a lot of what they were listening to wasn't even rooted in truth. And it was so funny because Max has been in a conversation with this person. I was one of his friends. And he found another person on the internet who had addressed all of this other commentator's accusations that were just blatant lies. And they were completely fabricated. They weren't embedded into truth. And so Max was so excited because he's like, yeah, this guy was a liar in the first place.

And so I think that that's more of the spirit of the Antichrist. That's more that like we're intentionally trying to shipwreck this thing. I mean, I could be wrong, but I do think that the text lends more towards like that as the Antichrist as someone. Well, we agree. I'm saying, though, the backdrop I'm given is there's only two camps. You have leaders, you have leaders in both camps. Yeah. And so this is the leadership of said camp.

Yeah. Human and spiritual beings who are actively trying to destroy the other camp. I mean, and I think that's what's happened. And my whole point in bringing up Second as long as too doesn't say Antichrist. It's this man of lawlessness who sets himself up in the

temple of God. What verse is that? Verse 4, he will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or his worship so that he sets himself up in God's temple proclaiming himself to be God. Well, the temple was destroyed AD 70 and I'm like, I think

we had a local phenomenon. that continues from then till now of people setting themselves up as God. They're called false teachers, men of sin and lawlessness. I think when you try to figure out exactly who this person is, you're doing yourself and injustice. It's a pattern that will continue until Jesus comes back, which he, that is the context. These people will be revealed, because I know we're almost out of time. I wanted to read the last couple of verses, then you tie it up.

So in verse 9, it says the coming of the lawless one. And remember, in Greek, that's translated in English, it's appearing or coming. The word is a tricky word. It doesn't necessarily mean like coming at a later date. It just, it's revealed. It appears. Like sometimes it says Jesus is coming back, but sometimes it says he will appear. And keep that in mind.

but it will be in accordance with the work of Satan. So within that camp, you have different aspects of leadership who people are setting themselves up as God, and they had told these Thessalonians, oh, that's already happened. Jesus has already come back. And so now they've got, but they have evil intent in mind, and I know that because verse 10 it says,

they do all these counterfeit miracles, signs, wonders, every sort of evil that deceives those who are, perishing, they perish. Here's the bottom line because they refuse to love the truth or walk in the lie, and so be saved. And for this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they'll believe the lie, and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth and have delighted in wickedness. Go ahead. Yeah, and I think it ties directly into the very end of 1st, Sean, too, because what he says, to your point, and then how I framed it up earlier, It's not church versus Rome, church versus future evil dictator.

It's truth versus deception, which you just said. I mean, that's the delusion, the truth that refused to love the truth. And then if you read this, he says, I write this to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But here's the contrast. But the anointing that you have received, so somehow, if you're in Christ, you've received a particular kind of anointing. And listen how this plays into the temple language. you've received an anointing from him who abides in you. Who abides in you?

The Holy Spirit abides in you. So now we're at the temple. And because of that, he says here, you have no need that anyone should teach you. No more central authority leadership where you got to go into the temple and sit like a bird. They just feed you the worms. No, no, no. You actually have the spirit in you. You don't need to be taught, but you have his anointing that teaches you.

you about everything. And guess what? It is true and there's no lie in it just as he has taught you abide in him. That's the picture. The picture is about the participation in the life of Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who does guide you in all the truth. I don't need to be taught. Can I learn from other people? Yes. But I don't have to go under any kind of centralized authority to receive revelation from the Holy Spirit about God. I have His Holy Spirit living in me. And I have his word right here in front of me that's been inspired by the Holy Spirit that tells me what truth is. I love it. The deep truth of the Holy Spirit.

You got him. So we'll discuss this more next time on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcast. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube. And be sure to click the little bell and choose all notifications to watch every episode.