In this passage, John is denouncing people who have fashioned themselves as leaders of the church who have the spirit of antichrist; that is, they stand in opposition to true and correct teaching in favor of teaching that goes directly against the Word of God…they call heresy and false doctrine truth. These “little a” antichrists have always been around and will always be around until Christ comes again; they could be false teachers in the church, or they could be other figures, such as the Roman Emperor Nero or Adolf Hitler. So, the question then becomes, what can we do about it? How do we deal with the antichrists that we encounter in the world? Let's answer these questions together.