Antichrist

From Conservapedia

John the Apostle describes Antichrist:

every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.^[1]

Many Christians however refer to anti-Christ as involved in future events as a man of evil and deception in Premillennialism^[2] who persecutes faithful Christians during the Tribulation. . Some say he will come on the world scene during a time of chaos, and will make a peace treaty with Israel for 7 years and then break the treaty after the first three and a half years to finally commit genocide against his opponents. This isn't stated in the Bible though.

1 Etymology
2 The Antichrist in the Bible
3 Islam
4 America as the Seat of Antichrist
- 4.1 Other identifications
5 Russia/The Soviet Union as the Seat of the Antichrist
6 The Vatican as the Seat of the Antichrist
7 Titles of the Antichrist
8 See also
9 Resources
10 Notes and references
11 External links

Etymology[edit]

The word Antichrist comes from the Greek αντί-χριστος (anti-khristos), meaning opposite of Christ. The Greek word anti can also mean 'instead of' or "equal to, like" so that the phrase can also be interpreted as meaning in place of, or like, Christ so while opposing Christ the antichrist will try to appear to be like Christ. Some Christians believe that the use in John refers to a single being that will appear in the End Times. This view is most commonly found among premillennialist Christians. In modern usage, the term is usually used to refer to one who is pure evil.

The Antichrist in the Bible[edit]

The following verses are the only verses which directly use the word Antichrist (KJV)

I John 2:18 'as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists'

I John 2:22 'Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.'

I John 4:3 'And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

2 John 7: 'For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.'

Based on the lack of direct references, some Christians argue that the Bible refers only to a generalized concept of Antichrist, applicable to anybody who is 'against Christ', not to a particular person. Moreover, such 'antichrists' were already present in the world nearly two thousand years ago. St. Augustine in his treatise The City of God relates the long-held belief in his day that Nero was the supreme Antichrist, and that he was still alive and in hiding, awaiting his opportunity, a belief he dismisses as absurd, saying, "But I wonder that men can be so audacious in their conjectures.^[3]" Other Christians, such as the Catholic Church and many Protestant denominations, have argued that these verses mainly prefigure the actual Antichrist and that one can see a single unifying Antichrist figure with the proper exegetical methods if one looks at the books of Daniel and Revelation.^[4] So while there is a spirit of antichrist, there is also one Antichrist who is to come.

The Antichrist is often associated with, and in some interpretations considered equivalent to, the Beast of Revelation or the Man of Sin referenced in II Thessalonians 2:3.

The Protestant Reformers did not hesitate to declare in the strongest possible language that the Pope and the office of the Papacy is indeed the Antichrist^[5]. This is the doctrinal position of conservative Christian Evangelicals, Baptists, Fundamentalists, the Plymouth Brethren, and anti-Catholic groups in general who hold to the doctrine of Dispensationalism and the Pre-Tribulation Rapture.

Orthodoxy firmly asserts that Protestantism and Roman Catholicism are antichrist in their heretical rejection of the truth of Orthodox doctrine as clearly defined by the seven Ecumenical councils.^[6]

According to the biblical definition of the identity of antichrist infallibly set forth in 1 John 2:22; 4:3 and 2 John 7, no historical pope has been the antichrist. None of them has denied that Jesus is the Christ, none of them has denied the Father and the Son, none of them has denied that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, each of them dogmatically confessing that Jesus Christ has indeed come in the flesh, and therefore none of them is or has been the antichrist.

Islam[edit]

Islamic theology also teaches of an antichrist-like figure known as Dajjal^[7]

America as the Seat of Antichrist[edit]

Some Protestants have seen America as the "Seat of Antichrist"—perhaps with the President of the United States, as the Antichrist. This theme has replaced the older version that the Catholic Church and the Pope were the Antichrist.

The idea was propounded in 1859 by Frances Rolleston in Notes on the Apocalypse, as Explained by the Hebrew Scriptures: The Place in Prophecy of America and Australia Being Pointed Out.^[8]

Seventh-day Adventist Church expositor Uriah Smith in 1884 authored a text entitled The United States in the Light of Prophecy; or, An Exposition of Rev. 13:11-17^[9] Smith was insistent that America was the beast of Revelation 13:11-17.

In 1968 Dr. S. Franklin Logsdon, Senior Pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago, suggested that the USA was Babylon the Great.^[10]

In 1998, R. A. Coombes, in America, the Babylon: America’s Destiny Foretold in Biblical Prophecy^[11] presents thirty-three identifying markers which he claims identify America as the Babylon of the End Times, the seat of Antichrist. He finds sixty-six reasons why New York City is the bastion of Babylon the Great.

Other identifications[edit]

Mark Hitchcock, in his 2009 text, The Late Great United States, What Bible Prophecy Reveals About America's Last Days^[12] rejects the eschatologists who suggest that America is Mystery, Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5) and claims, instead, that modern-day Iraq is the literal Babylon the Great of the latter days (pp. 17–21).

In his e-book Antichrist - Reflections on the Desolator^[13] Doug Krieger asserts that The Antichrist will be the leader of the West and the "protector of the Jews in a regathered Israel" - it is this figure who will make a "defense pact" to defend Israel's majority for seven years but, like other Biblical Futurists, will break his covenant with Israel and declare himself as God.

Russia/The Soviet Union as the Seat of the Antichrist[edit]

Some also consider Russian president Vladimir Putin or a grey eminence behind him to be the antichrist. [1]

The Vatican as the Seat of the Antichrist[edit]

Others consider Francis to be the antichrist. [2]

Titles of the Antichrist[edit]

Arthur Pink^[14] (See: The Antichrist^[15]) and Doug Krieger,^[16] as well as many, especially Premillennial^[17] Evangelicals,^[18] extrapolate titles of the End Times Antichrist from both Testaments of the Bible; to name but a few:

1. The Antichrist- I John

2. The Man of Sin – II Thess.

3. The Lawless One – II Thess.

4. The Beast – Rev. 11:7

5. The Bloody and Deceitful Man – Psalm 5:6

6. The Wicked One – II Thess.

7. The Man of the Earth – Psalm 10:18

8. The Mighty Man – Psalm 52:1

9. The Enemy – Psalm 55:3

10.The Adversary – Psalm 74:8-10

11.The Head Over Many Countries – Psalm 110:6

12.The Violent Man – Psalm 140:1

13.The Assyrian – Isa. 10:5-12

14.The King of Babylon – Isa. 14:4

15.The Son of the Morning – Isa. 14:12

16.The Abominable Branch – Isa. 14:19

17.The Spoiler – Isa. 16:4

18.The Nail – Isa. 22:25

19.The Branch of the Terrible Ones – Ezk. 21:25-27

20.The King of Tyre – Ezk. 28:12

21.The Little (i.e., "Younger") Horn – Daniel 7:8

22.The Head Over Many Countries- Psalm 110:6

23.The Coming Prince – Dan. 9:26

24.The Vile (or Despicable) Person – Dan. 11:21

25.The Willful King – Dan. 11:3 and Dan. 11:36

26.The Idol Shepherd – Zech. 11:16-17

27.The Angel of the Bottomless Pit – Rev. 9:11

28.The Son of Perdition – II Thess.

29.The Desolator – Daniel 9:27

30.The Abomination of Desolation – Daniel 11:31 and Daniel 12:11

31.God of Fortresses – Daniel 11:38

Resources[edit]

Cruden, A., Complete Concordance to the Old and New Testaments (Lutterworth, 1930)
The Holy Bible (King James Version)
The New English Bible (Oxford & Cambridge University Presses, 1970)
The New Jerusalem Bible (Darton, Longman & Todd, 1990)
Peake, A.S., Commentary on the Bible (Nelson, 1962)
Young, R., Analytical Concordance to the Holy Bible (Lutterworth, 1939)
McGinn, Bernard. Antichrist: Two Thousand Years of Human Fascination with Evil (San Francisco: Harper, 1994)
Lindsey, Hal. The Late Great Planet Earth (New York: Bantam Books, 1973)