I John 2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
They left. It is one thing when a fellow believer has to leave the fellowship because they are moving away. It is yet another when a fellow believer leaves the fellowship because of some unresolved relationship conflict. But the most stunning blow is when someone who has seemed to be a part of the body rejects Christ and walks away. It shook this church; it still does today. But John reminds us that it will be this way, and increasingly so, as we approach The Day. We need to be hurt, concerned, and prayerful, but not shocked. Just as the Old Testament believers had enemies in the camp; just as Judas was a part of the Twelve, we will have those who say they're all in, then walk away. Take heart; take stock; stick with the truth: Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father.
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