Brothers and sistersI have been hearing about various individuals being accused of being the Antichrist.
One of the first accusations I heard about was published in the form of a book that identified former U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger as the “Antichrist”. That was over thirty years ago. For the record, though he is still active in world affairs in an unofficial way, Kissinger is about 84 years old and semi-retired.
But that isn’t all, barely even the start. Every U. S. President since and including the late Ronald Reagan has been accused of being the Antichrist. Prince Charles of Great Britain has been accused of being the Antichrist. Lately, Javier Solana, the President of the European Union, has been accused of being the Antichrist. Every Pope in the past fifty years has been accused of being the Antichrist. And God only knows how many others!! All of the people who make these accusations have their arguments for why the person accused is the Antichrist.
I am not going to bother with trying to refute their arguments. Anyone who has studied logic and debating knows that it is very difficult to prove a negative. However, one thing should be obvious to everyone: The suspects can’t all be the Antichrist! So which one is? My position is that the correct answer is “None of the Above”.
Accusing someone of being the Antichrist is slander! It is something that Christians should not be doing. Would you seriously accuse George W. Bush of being a Hitler? I guess some people would, but I doubt that many people would take the accusation seriously, yet too many people have taken the accusations mentioned above seriously. If you accept the proposition that a particular person is the “Antichrist”, you are slandering him.
These accusations are a very bad testimony. Don’t think that the unsaved world doesn’t see this stuff. Because they do, this is a public Christian forum. Accusations like that tell unsaved people that Christians are a bunch of malicious, evil-minded crackpots. Though relatively few really are, it only takes a few to give the whole Christian Faith a bad name.
he Book of Revelation should be considered the final word, literally and figuratively, on Second Coming Prophecy. There are a number of reason’s why, but the most important is that it is the Lord Jesus Christ in His ascended, glorified state who appears in the first chapter as the Giver of the Book. It is, as the Book itself says, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”; not the “Revelation of St. John the Divine”, as it has been called by some.
The one we call the “Antichrist” is the king who receives the seemingly fatal head wound that will be miraculously healed. Again, on the basis of what the passage in Revelation 13 says about him, he definitely does not fit the popular concept of the Antichrist. There is nothing there to suggest that he is a “nice guy”. There is no suggestion that he promises solutions to all the world’s problems. However, there are a number of things said that give us a clear description of what he will be like:
He will be given the power of Satan, a throne, and great authority.
He will apparently be militarily invincible.
He will be given a mouth to say proud things and blaspheme God.
He will make war against the saints and conquer them.
And of course, he gets that head wound that is healed.
I have speculated about the identity of the Beast. I have asked myself the question; is there anyone alive right now who in any way really fulfills the description of the Beast? There is such a person, but he is not one of the people mentioned above. Yet he has a name that any American would recognize.
He has a mouth uttering proud things and blaspheming God. When he speaks publicly, he gets headlines. In fact, there was an instance of this only a couple of weeks before this was written.
He is at war with the saints. He has made that perfectly clear to anyone who really listens to what he says. He hasn’t just attacked with words. He has used deadly force.
As far as being militarily invincible, he has not defeated anyone as yet, at least not materially, but neither has anyone been able to completely defeat him, and people are trying. No one seems to be able to directly do anything against him.
He has a “throne” in that he is the unofficial head of a major international movement that has big plans.
Of course, he doesn’t yet completely fulfill the description, but we shouldn’t expect him to do so until the Great Tribulation begins. Although he hasn't received the head wound yet, the wound gives indirect support to this possibility. There is probably no man alive that more people want to kill. So no, I will not give his name out, so I don't fall into the same trap others do.
The Antichrist will arise out of the of ten kingdoms.
Rev 13:1-18 1 [AS] I stood on the sandy beach, I saw a beast coming up out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads. On his horns he had ten royal crowns (diadems) and blasphemous titles (names) on his heads.
2 And the beast that I saw resembled a leopard, but his feet were like those of a bear and his mouth was like that of a lion. And to him the dragon gave his [own] might and power and his [own] throne and great dominion.
3 And one of his heads seemed to have a deadly wound. But his death stroke was healed; and the whole earth went after the beast in amazement and admiration.
4 They fell down and paid homage to the dragon, because he had bestowed on the beast all his dominion and authority; they also praised and worshiped the beast, exclaiming, Who is a match for the beast, and, Who can make war against him?
5 And the beast was given the power of speech, uttering boastful and blasphemous words, and he was given freedom to exert his authority and to exercise his will during forty-two months (three and a half years).
6 And he opened his mouth to speak slanders against God, blaspheming His name and His abode, [even vilifying] those who live in heaven.
7 He was further permitted to wage war on God's holy people (the saints) and to overcome them. And power was given him to extend his authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation,
8 And all the inhabitants of the earth will fall down in adoration and pay him homage, everyone whose name has not been recorded in the Book of Life of the Lamb that was slain [in sacrifice] from the foundation of the world.
9 If anyone is able to hear, let him listen:
10Whoever leads into captivity will himself go into captivity; if anyone slays with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Herein is [the call for] the patience and the faith and fidelity of the saints (God's people).
11Then I saw another beast rising up out of the land [itself]; he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke (roared) like a dragon.
12 He exerts all the power and right of control of the former beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell upon it to exalt and deify the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed, and to worship him.
13 He performs great signs (startling miracles), even making fire fall from the sky to the earth in men's sight.
14 And because of the signs (miracles) which he is allowed to perform in the presence of the [first] beast, he deceives those who inhabit the earth, commanding them to erect a statue (an image) in the likeness of the beast who was wounded by the [small] sword and still lived.
15 And he is permitted [also] to impart the breath of life into the beast's image, so that the statue of the beast could actually talk and cause to be put to death those who would not bow down and worship the image of the beast.
16 Also he compels all [alike], both small and great, both the rich and the poor, both free and slave, to be marked with an inscription [stamped] on their right hands or on their foreheads,
17 So that no one will have power to buy or sell unless he bears the stamp (mark, inscription), [that is] the name of the beast or the number of his name.
18 Here is [room for] discernment [a call for the wisdom [d]of interpretation]. Let anyone who has intelligence (penetration and insight enough) calculate the number of the beast, for it is a human number [the number of a certain man]; his number is 666.
Here are several other topics on the forum, you may want to read.
Antichrist(s)Naming the antichrist is almost like date setting
Setting Dates To Gods Word!You can read more about the anti-christ at my website,
here.
