What is an antichrist?

Identifying the Antichrist

Who or what is the antichrist—a person, an organization or merely an evil principle? When did the antichrist first appear, what are the characteristics of antichrist, and what will mark the end of antichrist?

THE term antichrist has been applied to various persons, organizations and teachings. Some called the dissolute and murderous Roman emperor Nero, who so cruelly persecuted Christians and is believed to have caused the death of the apostle Paul, antichrist. Others applied the term to Domitian, who banished the apostle John to the isle of Patmos. Some termed Mohammed the antichrist, while many of the reformers, such as the Waldenses, the Hussites and the Lollards, applied the term to the papacy.

Higher criticism today discredits the reality God’s Word gives to the antichrist. Thus Harper’s Bible Dictionary (1952), under the heading “Antichrist,” states: “The concept of a conflict between the forces of good and evil appeared in a very early Babylonian myth, became a dominant part of Persian thought, and made its way into Jewish beliefs and Christian doctrine concerning the Second Advent.” However, those having faith in the Bible as God’s Word do not trace the antichrist to a Babylonian myth but to the garden of Eden where God said that he would put enmity between the seed of his organization, “the woman,” and that of the serpent, Satan the Devil.—Gen. 3:15.

The term “antichrist(s)” is found but five times in the Bible and only in the writings of the apostle John. Identifying the antichrist of his day, John wrote: “Many deceivers have gone forth into the world, persons not confessing Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.” And also further identifying the antichrist: “Who is the liar if it is not the one that denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist.”—2 John 7; 1 John 2:22, 18, NW.

Jesus foretold the coming of antichrist: “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will give great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the chosen ones.” And so did the apostle Paul: “Let no one seduce you in any manner, because [the day of Jehovah] will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of lawlessness gets revealed, the son of destruction.” Like John, Paul showed that “the mystery of this lawlessness is already at work,” in his day, and that it was “according to the operation of Satan.”—Matt. 24:24; 2 Thess. 2:3, 7, 9, NW.

ANTICHRIST IN A TWOFOLD SENSE

Before we can properly identify the antichrist, however, it is necessary that we first properly identify Christ. Just who was Christ? Christ, like its Hebrew equivalent, Messiah, means “anointed one.” It calls to mind the high priests and kings of the nation of Israel who were anointed with a specially prepared oil to serve in their official capacities as representatives of Jehovah God. The prophet Daniel had foretold the coming of the Anointed One, and the apostle Peter identified him as Jesus, saying to him: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”—Matt. 16:16, NW; Dan. 9:25.

It appears that “antichrist” has a twofold meaning. As its name indicates, it is anti or opposed to Christ. And it also has the thought of false or pseudo Christ, in the place or stead of Christ. While, as we have seen, some have attempted to apply the term to a certain individual, or organization, the foregoing scriptures, together with the physical facts, indicate that all persons, organizations or groups that falsely claim to represent Christ, that arrogate to themselves the Messianic role or that oppose Christ and his followers can properly be termed antichrists, even as Jesus said: “He that is not on my side is against me, and he that does not gather with me scatters.” (Matt. 12:30, NW) Interesting in this connection is the observation made by McClintock & Strong’s Cyclopædia that “the just conclusion seems to be that Antichrist is not to be confined to any single person or power, but is essentially a great principle or system of falsehood having various manifestations, forms of working and degrees.”

Incidentally, let it be noted that the truth regarding the antichrist is not mere milk but is solid spiritual food; strong meat that can be assimilated fully only by those who have advanced to maturity, only by “those who through use have their perceptive powers trained to distinguish both right and wrong.”—Heb. 5:13, 14, NW.

RELIGIOUS ANTICHRISTS

Christ Jesus claimed to be the Son of God in a unique way, distinctive from all other humans. Said he: “Before Abraham came into existence, I have been.” “No man has ascended into heaven but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man.” “I am God’s Son.” And God himself repeatedly bore testimony to the same, as at the Jordan when Jesus was baptized, and when Jesus and three of his apostles were on the mount of transfiguration.—John 8:58; 3:13; 10:36, NW; Matt. 3:17; 17:5.

It follows that all who deny this claim of Christ Jesus, be they devotees of Oriental religions, atheists, deists or agnostics, are antichrists. Regarding all such, Christians are warned that they “cannot be drinking the cup of Jehovah and the cup of demons,” and that there is no harmony between Christ and Belial. (1 Cor. 10:21; 2 Cor. 6:15, NW) Included also would be all professed Christian clergymen who say, as did one Boston, Massachusetts, Congregational minister: “I make bold to say that Jesus claims nothing for himself that is not universally true of the ideal or divine nature inherent in all of us,” and that Jesus was no more a son of God than were such pagan philosophers as Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius.

Further, since all those who deny that Jesus came in the flesh are antichrists, it follows that all who claim that Jesus was incarnated, merely clothed with flesh, are antichrists, for such deny that Jesus actually came in the flesh. Plainly we are told that “the Word became flesh,” and that he was “produced out of a woman.” Had he been merely incarnated he could have dispensed with a human mother. And had he been both human and divine upon the earth he would not have hungered after fasting, nor would he have needed rest after a journey or after a strenuous day; neither could he have died as man’s ransomer, for what is divine is immortal.—John 1:14; Gal. 4:4, NW.

The wise men are put to shame, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of Jehovah; and what manner of wisdom is in them?—Jer. 8:9, AS.

Hello there:)

Ty for posting.

Here is an intersting verse

1 John2:18

Young children it is the last hour and even asyou have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come whereby we know that it is the last hour.

An antichrist differs from a false Christ as seen in Matthew 24:5, 24.

" For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to lead astray if possible even the chosen"

A false Christ is one who pretends, deceivingly, to be the Christ, whereas an antichrist is one who denies Christ's deity, denying that Jesus is the Christ, that is, denying the Father and the Son by denying that Jesus is the Son of God.

1 John 2:22

" Who is the liar if not he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who deines the Father and the Son"

" Antichrist" also does not confess that Jesus has come in the flesh through the divine conception of the Holy Spirit as seen in 1 John 4:2-3

" In this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit which confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is of God.

And every spirit which does not confess Jesus, is not of God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming and now is already in the world.

So this kind of spirit is in the world.

Matthew 24:5

For many will come in My name saying I am the Christ and they will lead many astray.

Most of the cults.. and the more familiar ones like Mormons and JW's both deny the Lord as the Son of God. That is one of the basic traits. They each believe that the Lord was less than God and that He is the angel Michael.

" The" Antichrist is coming. But the spirit of antichrist is already very predominant and operating on the earth.

Good question.

In Christ

sandy

The term antichrist only appears 5 times in scripture. The traits of the antichrist are that they will deny Jesus came from God 1 John 4:3, they will deny Jesus is Christ as well as God Himself 1 John 2:22, and they will be a deceiver that says Jesus never came in the flesh 2 John 1:7. Notice also that 1 John 2:18 says that there are more than one and that even back in the day of John those antichrists were around.

Jimmy Carter.

When George W. Bush was president there were "5 former living presidents" until the death of Ronald Reagan on June 5, 2004! They were..........

1. Gerald Ford

2. Jimmy Carter

3. Ronald Reagan

4. George H. W. Bush

5. Bill Clinton

They are the 5 fallen kings in Rev. 17:10

Revelation 17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, [and] the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

That means that George W. Bush was the 6th king who is mentioned as (and one is) which means present tense! Or that he would be the king or in this case the president at the point in time that these 5 former pres. were alive! Also the 7th king (Barack Obama) who is yet to come was also alive at that very point in time!

The Bible also says that Barack Obama the 7th king will die in office and be replaced by the Anti-christ who is one of these former kings/presidents!

Revelation 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

In Danial 11 it says that the king/pres. just before the Anti-christ will be a raiser of taxes and he will die within a few days after that, neither in anger, nor in battle! That raiser of taxes is Obama the 7th king in Rev. 11:10 and that tax increase just might be "obamacare!"

Dan. 11:20 Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes [in] the glory of the kingdom: but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle.

Dan. 11:21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.

I really don't know, I think I have come to the conclusion that is is an entity that Christians have imagined, so that they can scare people a little more, into thinking their way.

Demons, antichrist' ,devil, evil , sinful people. These words are not in my vocabulary and have never been. I would rather live my life free of fear and prejudice.

The "spirit" of the Anti-Christ has been around since before the garden of Eden ! Yes, it is at work even right now, and soon to possess a natural body, thus, the abomination that maketh desolate.

Also, ANY religion or denominating that speaks against or rejects the anointing of God ( Christ ), is also in the spirit of Anti-Christ.

In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist or anti-Christ, has come to mean a person, an other entity, or an image of a person, that is an embodiment of evil.

The word 'Antichrist' is translated from the combination of two ancient Greek words αντί + χριστος ('anti + khristos), which can mean anti "opposite" (of) khristos "anointed" therefore "opposite of Christ" (the meaning of christ as the '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" or a substitute for Christ. An antichrist can be opposed to Christ by striving to be in the place of Christ.

The term itself appears 5 times in 1 John and 2 John of the New Testament — once in plural form and 4 times in the singular, and is popularly associated with the belief of a competing and assumed evil entity opposed to Jesus of Nazareth. 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.

Anyone who suddenly stands up to fart he Star Spangeled Banner during a funeral service, runs up to the casket, dumps it over, and declares himself Ruler of the World before laying a big sloppy kiss on the widow and then shredding into some ultra hot licks via air-guitar, while waiting for the cops!

Most so called christians.

Christ lived a life of poverty / peace / healing / teaching.

Religious Right is about the money / guns / cutting health care for kids and seniors / cutting school funding.

an antichrist is an ANTI christ. they are against christs teachings and all he says. they believe that the evil is alive and that it is more equally spread than posotive energy. their number is 666 and their symbol is the upside down pentacle. they are agains the christian cross and they do sacred practices which involves sacrifising people. they even have sex with people then cut them, so they can give the sacrifise to their god, the devil, Satan.