What is an antichrist? How can an antichrist be discerned?

Relevant Words of God:

In the time when God had not become flesh, the measure of whether man opposed God was based on whether man worshiped and looked up to the invisible God in heaven. The definition of opposition to God at the time was not so real, for man then could neither see God nor know the image of God or how He worked and spoke. Man had no conceptions of God and believed in God in vagueness, for He had not appeared to man.
     Therefore, however man believed in God in their imaginations, God did not condemn man or ask much from man, for man could not see God at all. When God becomes flesh and comes to work among men, all behold God and hear His words, and all see the doings of God in the flesh. At that time, all the conceptions of man dissolve into nothing but foam. As for those who see the God appearing in the flesh, all who have obedience in their hearts shall not be condemned, whereas those who purposefully stand against Him shall be deemed an opponent of God. Such men are antichrists and are enemies who willfully stand against God.

from “All Who Do Not Know God Are Those Who Oppose God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

If you have believed in God for many years, and yet have never obeyed Him or accepted all of His words, but instead asked God to submit to you and act in accord with your notions, then you are the most rebellious of persons, and you are an unbeliever. How is one such as this able to obey the work and the words of God that do not conform to the notions of man? The most rebellious person is one who intentionally defies and resists God. He is the enemy of God and the antichrist. Such a person constantly bears a hostile attitude toward the new work of God, has never shown the smallest intention of submitting, and has never gladly shown submission or humbled himself. He exalts himself before others and never shows submission to anyone. Before God, he considers himself the most proficient in preaching the word and the most skillful in working on others. He never discards the “treasures” already in his possession, but treats them as family heirlooms for worship, for preaching about to others, and uses them to lecture those fools who idolize him. There are indeed a certain number of people like this in the church. It can be said that they are “indomitable heroes,” generation after generation sojourning in the house of God. They take preaching the word (doctrine) to be their highest duty. Year after year and generation by generation, they go about vigorously enforcing their “sacred and inviolable” duty. None dare touch them and not a single person dares openly reproach them. They become “kings” in the house of God, running rampant as they tyrannize over others from age to age. This pack of demons seeks to join hands and demolish My work; how can I allow these living devils to exist before My eyes?

from “Those Who Obey God With a True Heart Shall Surely Be Gained by God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Know that you oppose God’s work, or use your own conceptions to measure the work of today, because you do not know the principles of God’s work, and because you do not take the work of the Holy Spirit seriously enough. Your opposition to God and obstruction of the work of the Holy Spirit is caused by your conceptions and inherent arrogance. It is not because God’s work is wrong, but because you are naturally too disobedient. After finding their belief in God, some people can’t even say with certainty where man came from, yet they dare to make public speeches appraising the rights and wrongs of the Holy Spirit’s work. And they even lecture the apostles who have the Holy Spirit’s new work, passing comment and speaking out of turn; their humanity is too low, and there is not the slightest sense in them. Will the day not come when such people are rejected by the work of the Holy Spirit, and burned by the fires of hell? They do not know the work of God, but instead criticize His work, and also try to instruct God how to work. How can such unreasonable people know God? Man comes to know God during the process of seeking and experiencing Him; it is not through criticizing Him at whim that he comes to know God through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. The more accurate people’s knowledge of God, the less they oppose Him. In contrast, the less people know of God, the more likely they are to oppose Him. Your conceptions, your old nature, and your humanity, character and moral outlook are the “capital” with which you resist God, and the more corrupt, degraded and low you are, the more you are the enemy of God. Those who are possessed of grievous conceptions and have a self-righteous disposition are even more in enmity of God incarnate, and such people are the antichrists.

from “Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Any who do not understand the purpose of God’s work are those who stand against God, and even more so are those who are aware of the purpose of God’s work yet do not seek to satisfy God. Those who read the Bible in grand churches recite the Bible every day, yet not one understands the purpose of God’s work. Not one is able to know God; moreover, not one is in accord with the heart of God. They are all worthless, vile men, each standing on high to teach God. Though they brandish the name of God, they willfully oppose Him. Though they label themselves believers of God, they are ones who eat the flesh and drink the blood of man. All such men are devils who devour the soul of man, head demons who purposefully disturb those who try to step onto the right path, and stumbling blocks that impede the path of those who seek God. Though they are of “robust flesh,” how are their followers to know that they are antichrists who lead man in opposition to God? How are they to know that they are living devils who specially seek souls to devour?

from “All Who Do Not Know God Are Those Who Oppose God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Sermon and Fellowship Excerpts for Reference:

Although what the antichrists fellowship seems on the outside to be God’s words, and they do fellowship some knowledge and experience of the truth, it does not mean that they have the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit does not work on them. However, they are able to steal others’ words of experience and understanding and use them to disguise and adorn themselves. They can plagiarize others’ understandings that are relatively in line with the truth to deceive people, and when they hear these words, they think, “What this person says is right and good. He really has the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit.” People will adore him. But the truth is that these are all stolen from others. Tell me, does corrupt mankind use these tricks? All of corrupt humanity knows how to steal, how to feign, how to disguise themselves. Stealing someone else’s words is just too easy. After listening to someone else’s fellowship, they secretly write down the most powerful and best words, they parrot them several times until they’ve memorized them, and then they go communicate them with others. Sometimes they’ll go to one place to listen to others, then go somewhere else to speak. They do it so quickly that in the blink of an eye, they’ve made it their own. They’re hawking it just the moment they get it. People are capable of this—that is common knowledge. Since the antichrists are on the wrong path and they lack the work of the Holy Spirit, it is impossible for them to have a real understanding of God’s word and the truth. However, there are some people who hear some things that an antichrist communicates and feel that they are admirable, and then they think, “Doesn’t he possess the work of the Holy Spirit? Otherwise, how could he have such an understanding of God’s words and the truth?” This kind of thinking is incorrect, because the truth is that such words can be stolen. He can mimic the words of others. Nowadays, there are a number of pastors in religion who take the words of God and the fellowship of the house of God for themselves. After reading them, they preach them to their congregation on Sundays, and when people hear them, they think, “Oh, that was such a wonderful sermon. This time it really contained the truth.” Then they all donate enthusiastically, and in this way, their livelihood is now guaranteed. Are there many preachers like that in the religious world? When you show them the true way, they refuse to accept it, but after getting their hands on books from the house of God, they secretly use them in their sermons. They use them to make money, deceive people and exalt themselves. They take what are clearly God’s words and claim them as their own words, their own experience and knowledge. This is a despicable tactic of antichrists to deceive others.

from “How to Discern the Deception of a False Christ and an Antichrist” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life II

For discernment on antichrist demons, one must be able to see through the seven characteristics of their nature. This is extremely important for clearly recognizing the satanic true face of antichrist demons. An explanation of the seven characteristics of the devilish nature of antichrists is provided below:

First, all antichrists are arrogant and conceited; they refuse to obey anyone, exalt only themselves, stick to their own ways of doing things. They look down on others, have no place at all for God in their hearts, and have no fear of God whatsoever. No one in the churches can get antichrists to go along with things, and there is no one who can control them. Leaders and workers at all levels of the churches are like enemies to them. For instance, some say: “I only obey God and no one else.” Or they say: “I only obey so-and-so, but I won’t obey anyone else.” And so on. It can be seen from this that such people all possess the nature of the devil Satan, which is why it is not at all surprising that they are capable of magnifying themselves, they’re complacent and unwilling to move forward, and can hardly wait to testify that they are God’s firstborn sons, His beloved sons. Such wicked people all become authentic antichrist demons as soon as they come into power. Refusing to obey anyone and magnifying themselves—that’s the first characteristic of the devilish nature of antichrists.

Second, as antichrists have devilish natures, that is, they don’t love the truth and even hate and resist the truth as well as oppose God, antichrists never take eating and drinking God’s words seriously. They have never genuinely eaten or drunk God’s words, and neither do they accept God’s words and the truth. Accordingly, they have no enlightenment or illumination of the Holy Spirit from God’s words, and moreover don’t genuinely know the truth of their own corruption through God’s words. Hence, antichrist demons never talk about knowing themselves, let alone dissect or lay bare themselves, as though they didn’t have corruption. They have never had fellowship on true knowledge of God’s words and the truth, and moreover cannot bear witness to God’s work and what He has and is. All they know to do is build themselves up and bear witness to themselves. They even dare to testify that they are God’s firstborn sons, beloved sons, and that they have been perfected. They really are despicable and shameless to the extreme. This is the second characteristic of the devilish nature of antichrists.

Third, since by their devilish natures antichrists don’t love the truth and even hate the truth, resist the truth and oppose God, one will never see antichrists put the truth into practice. Antichrist demons never practice the truth, and the main expressions of this are as follows: 1. They never submit to God’s judgment, chastisement, trials and refinement; 2. They never submit to God’s words or the truth; 3. They never accept the truth; 4. They never accept being pruned and dealt with; 5. They never obey anyone who is able to fellowship and practice the truth—they obey no one; 6. They always speak from a position higher than others or even from the position of God, always lecture people. They are adept at misconstruing God’s words, distorting the truth, upending right and wrong, making false countercharges, wantonly condemning and arbitrarily judging others. They frequently deceive, judge, condemn, and frame other people. Moreover, they are seething with enmity toward God’s chosen people. This therefore proves that antichrists are people who can never practice the truth. This is the third characteristic of the devilish nature of antichrists.

Fourth, the actions and behaviors of antichrists are all for the sake of fighting for power and profit, and to achieve the goal of controlling God’s chosen people and setting up their own independent kingdom. Antichrists only pursue status and power and worship satanic forces to the extreme. Status, power and money are antichrists’ idols and the goals they pursue. This is the essence of the nature of antichrists. The only things that antichrists strive and work hard for are status and power. If something is not for the sake of status and power, they won’t do it. They are willing to do anything that will benefit their fight for status and power. For the sake of seeking status, they won’t hesitate to punish, frame or harm others in any way. In the eyes of antichrists, with status and power they can gain everything, while losing status and power means losing everything. This is entirely a manifestation of the essence of the devilish nature of the great red dragon. This is the fourth characteristic of the devilish nature of antichrists.

Fifth, apart from loving the pursuit of power and status, antichrists like to collude with and associate with all wicked people. They are drawn to anyone who shares the same rotten proclivities as them and can do service for them; they like and associate with whoever worships and flatters them. All those ensnared by antichrists are demons and beasts, soulless animals. Antichrist demons never like to associate with honest people who walk the right path and pursue the truth. They never like kind-hearted, good people, and they are even capable of twisting the truth and upending right and wrong to claim that wicked people are good and good people are wicked. They stop at nothing to fix and punish, maliciously slander, wantonly condemn others, cover up their own sins by accusing another, and act wildly. This engenders chaos in churches everywhere. This is even further proof of the devilish nature of antichrists. What all antichrist demons despise the most are good people who pursue the truth, uphold principles, and have a sense of justice. What they hate the most are people who have discernment on them, who abhor evil, and possess the truth and humanity. That is why antichrists are capable of persecuting, framing and harming good people as well as opposing leaders and workers of all levels. This is the fifth characteristic of the devilish nature of antichrists.

Sixth, all antichrist demons have a deep-rooted hatred for the man used by the Holy Spirit in their very bones, and they scheme to replace him. They are enraged and in a frenzy. When they see the churches carry out democratic elections and see God’s chosen people start to enter the right track in their faith, they furiously launch wild counterattacks, doing their utmost to disrupt church elections. They spread all kinds of fallacies and heresies in order to mislead God’s chosen people and go so far as to attack, judge and condemn leaders and workers of all levels in God’s house as fake. This is so that they may sow discord among God’s chosen people and leaders and workers of all levels. For the sake of deceiving and controlling God’s chosen people, they even go so far as to shamelessly get others to vote for them and submit to them rather than elect those who pursue the truth, genuinely obey God’s work and have entered into the reality of the truth to become leaders and workers of any level. This makes the ambitions of antichrists to dominate the churches and control God’s chosen people patently obvious. We can conclude from this that all antichrist demons are especially hateful toward the man used by the Holy Spirit as well as leaders and workers of all levels in God’s house. This even further exposes the contemptible intentions of antichrist demons, being most afraid of the truth reigning in God’s house and most afraid of those who pursue the truth reigning in God’s house. This is because the day the truth and people who pursue the truth reign in God’s house is the day antichrists will meet their end. Evidently, what antichrist demons hate the most is the man used by the Holy Spirit and leaders and workers of all levels who pursue the truth. This is the sixth characteristic of the devilish nature of antichrists.

Seventh, no antichrist demons ever truly repent no matter what crushing defeat or rejection they encounter, nor will they genuinely self-reflect to know themselves. While some devils may shed tears, these are not tears of repentance but are rather tears of being wronged, of disobedience, of hate. They are certainly not tears of regret or indebtedness. This is because all those without conscience or reason are devils, and all devils lack even an ounce of humanity. They are all of Satan’s ilk and absolutely won’t be saved by God. Antichrist demons all possess the nature of the devil Satan and are beyond salvation, thus they will never know themselves and truly repent. They will never accept the truth and genuinely obey God. This is the seventh characteristic of the devilish nature of antichrists.

The above seven characteristics are a complete snapshot of the satanic essence and nature of antichrist demons. All those who possess these seven characteristics of antichrists are authentic Satans and devils. They are all lackeys of Satan reincarnated from devils….

from “Antichrists Must Be Thoroughly Expelled in Order to Truly Rebel Against and Triumph Over Satan” in Selected Annals of the Work Arrangements of The Church of Almighty God