Anti-Christ
In Christian eschatology the Antichrist or Anti-christ (literally: anti, 'opposite', 'against' or 'as if'; christ, anointed one) has come to mean a person, image of a person, or other entity that is the embodiment of evil. The name antichrist derives from the books of 1 and 2 John, which describe any who denies Christ to be antichrists. The term is also often applied to prophecies regarding a "Little horn" power in Daniel 7, and is used in conjunction with many end times teachings.
Antichrist is translated from the combination of two ancient Greek words αντί + χριστος (antí + khristos), which can mean anti "opposite" (of) khristos "anointed" therefore "opposite of Christ" (the meaning of christ as 'anointed one' having become secondary to its meaning as the honorific of Jesus of Nazareth) or anti "as" (if) khristos "messiah" thus "in place of Christ." An antichrist can be opposed to Christ by striving to be in the place of Christ.
The term itself appears five times in 1 John and 2 John of the New Testament—once in plural form and four times in the singular, and is popularly associated with the belief of a competing and assumed evil entity opposed to Jesus of Nazareth.
New Testament
The words antichrist and antichrists appear only four verses in the Bible—in the epistles 1 John and 2 John:
- Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the anti-Christ is coming, even now many anti-Christs have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. (1 John 2:18)
- Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the anti-Christ—-he denies the Father and the Son. (1 John 2:22)
- Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the anti-Christ, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.. (1 John 4:2-3)
- Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the anti-Christ. (2 John 1:7)
Thus, the term anti-Christ originally referred to a number of teachers to whom the author of 1 and 2 John objected on theological John. He could thus speak of "many antichrists," who denied "that Jesus is the Christ," who deny that Jesus is from God, and who deny that Jesus came in the flesh.
Later, term was applied to a particular person, the "man of sin" or "son of perdition" mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. In the "small apocalypse" of Saint Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, a "man of sin" is to take over the temple of God, on the pretense that he is God himself.
In addition, the Matthew warns of "false Christs," and of deceivers who would appear claiming falsely to be the returned Christ. (Matt.24:4-5)
Finally, the title Anti-Christ has been applied to one of several figures mentioned in the Book of Revelation including the Dragon, the Beast, the false prophet, and the Whore of Babylon. Most popularly, the term is associated with the Beast, whose number is "666." However, the concept of The Anti-Christ normally combines the characteristics of several of the figures described as "anti-Christ," "false prophet" "Beast," etc. in the New Testament.
Later texts and apocrypha
Related ideas and references appear in various apocrypha, and a more complete portrait of the Antichrist has been built up gradually by Christian theologians and folk-religionists.
One such apocryphal text is the apocalyptic pseudo-prophecy falsely attributed to the Tiburtine Sibyl. It purports to prophesy (although written after the fact—see postdiction) the arrival of the Christian emperor, Constantine, beginning:
- "Then will arise a king of the Greeks whose name is Constans. He will be king of the Romans and the Greeks. He will be tall of stature, of handsome appearance with shining face, and well put together in all parts of his body..."
Millennialists and anti-Semites have relished the document's suggestion that the Antichrist will be an Israelite:
- At that time the Prince of Iniquity will arise from "the Tribe of Dan."
This position is supported by several Biblical sources: 1) Genesis 49:17, which reads: "Dan shall be a serpent by the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider shall fall backward." However, it is probable this prophecy pertains to the fact that the Tribe of Dan historically fell into idolatry during Biblical times, leading members of other Jewish tribes into idolatry, as well; and 2) Revelation 7:1-8, which appears to show that none of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists will come from the Tribe of Dan. However, there are other Biblical examples of tribes being absent from similar lists, without any iniquity being implied. It is probable that such is the case here.
Jerry Falwell believed that the Antichrist would be of Jewish descent, basing their claims on Daniel 11:37. This verse reads: "Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all." Some hold that disregarding "... the desire of women ..." may indicate that the Antichrist will be a celibate or a homosexual, however in Jewish tradition, "... the desire of women ..." is to bear children, so that Daniel describes the Antichrist's hatred towards his own children or his refusal to have children of his own. Some read Jesus as hinting that the Antichrist would be Jewish by his statement: "I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him..." John 5:43.
Expected role
Christian denominations disagree on what will happen in the end times, and the role that Satan and the Antichrist will play. Among them are those who believe that the antichrists of whom John wrote are instead a single individual and expect this one person to rise in the future.
There is a consensus that sometime prior to the expected return of Jesus, there will be a period of "trials and tribulations" during which the Antichrist, inspired by Satan, will attempt to win supporters with great works, and will silence anyone or make enemies of any country that refuses their allegiance (by refusing to "receive his mark" on their foreheads or right hands). This "mark" is expected to be required to legally partake in commerce, as noted in Revelation 13:16,17 Some Christians believe that the Antichrist will be assassinated half way through the Tribulation, being revived and indwelt by Satan. The Antichrist will continue on for three and a half years following this.
In this view, an event popularly termed the "White Throne Judgment" will take place, at which time both the living and the dead will be resurrected, some for everlasting life, and some for everlasting death. All those who worship God through Jesus will be admitted to the presence of God; but everyone who would not repent of the Antichrist will be thrown into the "lake of Fire." Finally, the "Dragon" (often interpreted as Satan), the "Beast" (often interpreted as the Antichrist) and the "false prophet" (interpreted in many ways) who compels the world to worship the Beast, and all who received his mark (cast their lot with him), will be thrown into a lake of fire together with death and Sheol. These views are based on controversial passages in the Apocalypse of John, more commonly known as the Book of Revelation.
The Bible verse from chapter eight of the Book of Daniel is seen as a prophecy of the Antichrist: "And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand."
In other views, the role is far less dramatic—the Antichrist is simply believed to be a group of individuals as well as organizations, who, for their history of trying to deceive and stifle the faithful, are finally destroyed for all time by God on the day of Armageddon. Gog and Magog are identified as the nations in the four corners of the earth, and their attack is represented as an eschatological crisis after the Millennium, to be vanquished by divine intervention. The language of Gog and Magog's destruction is very similar to that of their mention in Ezekiel.
Identity
The numbers 666 or 616 are associated with the Antichrist, according to Revelation 13:18. Gematria and other numerology techniques are used to calculate the numeric value of a name in attempts to confirm the identity of the Antichrist.
First millennium
According to Bernard McGinn, in Christianity's early days the Antichrist was identified variously as spirit of heresy (by Polycarp), the Roman empire (by Irenaeus), or the resurrected Nero (by John Chrysostom).
Arnulf of Rheims wrote in A.D. 991, "What do you estimate this to be, reverend fathers? When you see him sitting on a lofty throne glittering in purple and gold, what do you estimate this to be, I say? Without a doubt, if he lacks love, and is only swelled up and lifted up, must he not be the Antichrist, 'sitting in the temple of God, and also showing himself as God'”?
Second millennium
Similarly, another idea that began appearing early in the history of the Christian church is that the Antichrist will be an apostate priest or Christian secular ruler, perhaps a Pope or other high leader of the Christian church, or a pretender to the Papacy.
Some of the Spiritual Franciscans considered the Emperor Frederick II a positive Antichrist who would clean the Church from riches and clergy.
Some Protestant Churches have made it an issue of faith to identify the Bishop of Rome and the papal system as the Antichrist. See, for example, the Smalcald Articles, Westminster Confession and the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith; early Protestant Reformers, including Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer, John Knox, Cotton Mather, and John Wesley, identified the Roman Papacy as the Antichrist. Headed by Matthias Flacius, several Lutheran scholars in Magdeburg, known as the Centuriators of Magdeburg, wrote the 12-volume "Magdeburg Centuries" to discredit the papacy, including identifying the pope as the Antichrist. Virtually all popes have been called the Antichrist by their enemies, and many popes have applied this title of "Antichrist," "son of perdition," or "man of sin," to their enemies as well. Some Catholics expected a son of Martin Luther to be the Antichrist, as his scion would be the son of an ex-priest and ex-nun.
Contemporary, conservative, Confessional Lutherans also hold that the pope is the Antichrist, insisting that this article of faith is part of a quia rather than quatenus subscription to the Book of Concord. In 1932, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) adopted A Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod.
After the reforms of Patriarch Nikon to the Russian Orthodox Church of 1652, a large number of Old Believers held that tzar Peter the Great was the Antichrist, because of his treatment of the Orthodox Church, namely separating church from state, requiring clergyman to conform to the standards of all Russian civilians (shaved beards, being fluent in French), and requiring them to pay state taxes. In 1914 , a woman believing the faith healer Rasputin was the Antichrist, for his supposedly evil influences over the tzar and tzarina, stabbed him, cutting a large wound in his chest. He fully recovered.
Preterists look to an early antichrist. The Roman emperor beginning with Nero, sometimes together with the four emperors who succeeded him in the year following his suicide, until the elevation of Nero's general Vespasian to emperor, have been interpreted from very early times, either alone or collectively as the Beast of the Apocalypse. This is supported by some numerological interpretations.
In this tumultuous period, superstitious fear and mob violence grew against Christians, and the Roman wars against the Jews intensified (AD 66–70), ending with the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. under the command of general Titus (later emperor), and the slaughter of the Jews who were living at Jerusalem. According to tradition, Nero ordered the crucifixion of St. Peter and the beheading of Saint Paul. Both Jewish and Christian literature survives, referring to Emperor Nero as the Antichrist.
Paul of Tarsus has been theorized by some Muslims and others (notably English political radical Jeremy Bentham) to have fulfilled the role of the Antichrist within the chronicles of the New Testament of the Bible, itself. This theory is premised on an idea that the original teachings of Christ were distorted by Paul, rather than elaborated upon or revealed to Paul by Christ.
Widespread Protestant identification of the Papacy as the Antichrist persisted until the early-1900s when the Scofield Reference Bible was published by Cyrus Scofield. Prior to the Scofield Bible, with few exceptions, the Protestant confessions of faith declared the Papacy as the Antichrist. Westminster Confession of Faith:
- 25.6. There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ: nor can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God; whom the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
In response to the identification of the Papacy as Antichrist, the modern view of Futurism (Christian eschatology), a product of the Counter-Reformation, was advanced beginning in the sixteenth century. This theory was developed by a Jesuit priest named Francisco Ribera in his 1585 treatise on the Apocalypse of John entitled In Sacrum Beati Ioannis Apostoli, & Evangelistiae Apocalypsin Commentarij. This view was then codified by St. Bellarmine, who gives in full the Catholic theory set forth by the Greek and Latin Fathers, of a personal Antichrist to come just before the end of the world and to be accepted by the Jews and enthroned in the temple at Jerusalem—thus endeavoring to dispose of the exposition which saw Antichrist in the pope. Bellarmine's interpretation, in modified form, is now accepted by most premillennial dispensationalists. The Leader of the Free Presbyterian Church, Ian Paisley, loudly denounced the then Pope, Pope John Paul II, as the Antichrist when the pontiff was giving a speech at a sitting of the European Parliament in Strasbourg in 1988 , when Paisley was a Member of the European Parliament.
Contemporary Identification
Revelation 13 contains a description of the Antichrist:
1. "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."
2. "And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority."
3. "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast."
4. "And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?"
5. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months."
6. "And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven."
7. "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations."
8 ."And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (as per the King James Bible)
Some theorists attribute the wounding and resurgence in the third verse to the papacy, referring to General Louis Berthier's capture of Pope Pius VI in 1798 , and the pope's subsequent death in 1799. Instead of reducing the power of the papacy, however, it grew and became the most influential political and religious power in the world. As another example, Gerard Bodson claims in his book "Cracking the Apocalypse Code" that this line refers to the defeat of Germany in World War I and its recovery under the Nazis. Germany is named as one of the heads of the beast (the other heads representing the other members of the Axis Powers: Italy, Japan, Finland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary).
Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, put forward the idea that the Antichrist may be the Secretary-General of the United Nations. LaHaye and Thomas Ice, have also suggested that the rise of militant Islam in the twenty-first century is a possible sign of the End Times. Islam, in their view, is the false religion and of the Antichrist, otherwise known as the False Prophet. Muslims also believe in the false Messiah, also known as the false messiah or Maseeh Dajjal, in Arabic also called Awar Dajjal and "The One Eyed Liar."
Mohammed warned "When the False Messiah rises up, Remember God is not one eyed;" this "One Eyed Liar" will come to earth with great power and Muslims who are true and faithful will stand up against him and will be the False Messiah's sole enemy, until the return of Jesus Christ (which is the last sign mentioned in the Qur'an), while the Antichrist is not mentioned by any name or title in the Qur'an.
Jerry Falwell told a pastors' conference in January 1999 in a sermon on the Second Coming that the Antichrist was probably alive on earth, and certainly a Jewish male. He subsequently clarified that "[t]his is simply historic and prophetic orthodox Christian doctrine" and had no anti-Semitic roots.
Conspiracy theorists have claimed that the immortal Count of Saint Germain is the Antichrist or somehow analogous to Lucifer.
The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, called himself the Antichrist. He even went as far as to write a book called The Antichrist. In his famous first book, The Birth of Tragedy, he wrote: "As a philologist and man of words, I baptized it, taking some liberties (for who knew the correct name for the Antichrist?), after the name of a Greek god: I called it the Dionysian."
Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, a minister with a large Latin American following, claims not only to be God, but at the same time, the Antichrist. He claims that the Bible is mistranslated and that it really states that the Antichrist is Jesus Christ's replacement on Earth. De Jesus also preaches that sin and the devil do not exist and heaven can be found on Earth. He also has 666 tattooed on multiple places on his body.
In addition, certain occultists have proclaimed themselves to be the Antichrist, including John Whiteside Parsons. The Antichrist is also a popular archetype for villainous behavior.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Anderson, Roy Allan. Beware It's Coming: The Antichrist 666, Sim&Sons Publishing House, 2005. ISBN 978-0917013034
- Bunyan, John. Of Antichrist and His Ruin, Diggory Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1846857294
- Hitchcock, Mark. Is the Antichrist Alive Today?, Multnomah, 2003. ISBN 978-1590520758
- Luther, Martin. The Antichrist, Diggory Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1846858048
- Nietzche, Friedrich, & Mencken, H.L. The Anti-Christ, Cosmo Classics, 2005. ISBN 978-1596056817
- Pink, Arthur W. The Antichrist: A Systematic Study of Satan's Counterfeit Christ, Kregel Classics, 2001. ISBN 978-0825435027
External links
- Jewish Encyclopedia: Antichrist
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Antichrist - full article
- Encyclopedia Britannica (1911): Antichrist
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Antichrist
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