Antichrist

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For the Friedrich Nietzsche book, see The Antichrist. For the Gorgoroth album, see Antichrist (album).
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In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist or anti-Christ has come to mean a person, an image of a person, or another entity 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.[1] The term is also often applied to prophecies regarding a "Little horn" power in Daniel 7,[2] and is used in conjunction with many end times teachings.

Contents

[edit] New Testament references

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The words antichrist and antichrists appear in the First and Second Epistle of John.[3][4][5][6]

The Bible does not point to only one person as being the antichrist but speaks of a class of persons. John speaks of "many anti-Christs" who embody the spirit of the anti-Christ.[5] John wrote that such anti-Christs (or opponents of Christ) would deny "that Jesus is the Christ", "the Father and the Son", and would "not confess Jesus came in the flesh."

Some identify a particular Antichrist as a "man of sin" or "son of perdition" mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. Others identify him as being in league with (or the same as) several figures in the Book of Revelation including the Dragon, the Beast, the False Prophet, and the Whore of Babylon.

Matthew 24 warns of false Christs and of deceivers who would appear claiming falsely to be the returned Christ.[7]

Paul writes that a "man of sin", "the son of perdition" is to take over the temple of God, on the false pretense that he is God himself.[8] Circa 170 BC, Antiochus Epiphanes commanded Jews to sacrifice pigs on Shabbat four times a year, in tribute to himself as the supreme god of the Seleucids.

  1. ^ Strong's G500 Word Search Results for "antichristos (Strong's 500) Strong's antichristos (Strong's 500)". The Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
  2. ^ Daniel 7 (King James Version). BibleGateway.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
  3. ^ 1 John 2:18
  4. ^ 1 John 2:22
  5. ^ a b 1 John 4:3
  6. ^ 2 John 1:7
  7. ^ Matthew 24:5, 24:24
  8. ^ 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

[edit] 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[citation needed]) 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..."[9]

Millennialists and anti-Semites focus on 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'."[10]

This position is supported by several Biblical sources. For example, Genesis 49:17 states, "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."[11] However, it is also probable that this prophecy pertains to the fact that the Tribe of Dan had historically fallen into a state of idolatry during Biblical times, thus leading members of other Jewish tribes into idolatry as well. In addition, Revelation 7:1-8[12] 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.[citation needed]

[edit] Beliefs and observations of other religions

  • The Antichrist is similar to the Islamic depiction of dajjal, who will appear as a powerful and corrupt leader; Isa (Arabic name for Jesus) will kill him in an epic war near Jerusalem. Muslims also have expectations of the antichrist; they call him al-Masih al-Dajjal ("Messiah-Liar"). He will defy Christ and pervert the words of the true Messiah. He will appear towards the end of this civilization. Quite a few Muslims believe the dajjal or anti-christ will deceive people, perform "miracles" (in reality sorcery) allowed by the permission of God as a test for people and whether they believe, get people to join his false religion and eventually claim to be a Prophet and then God. He will speak beautifully and fool people. Among the signs of the Hour will be the emergence of a beast from the earth. It will be very strange in appearance, and be extremely huge; one cannot even imagine what "it/he" will look like. Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said, "The Hour will not come until you see ten signs: the smoke for 40 days; the Dajjal; the Beast; the sun rising from the West; the descent of Jesus son of Mary; Gog and Magog; and three landslides - one in the East, one in the West, and one in Arabia, at the end of which fire will burst forth from the direction of Aden (Yemen) and drive people to the place of their final assembly."[citation needed]


  • Seventh Day Adventists teach that the anti-Christ is the office of the Papacy. In 1798, the French General Berthier exiled the Pope and took away all his authority, which was later restored in 1929. This is taken as a fulfillment of the prophecy that the Beast of Revelation would receive a deadly wound but that the wound would be healed.[13]

[edit] 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 "great tribulation"[14] during which the Antichrist, indwelt and controlled by Satan, will attempt to win supporters with false peace, supernatural signs. He will silence all that defy him by refusing to "receive his mark" on their right hands or forehead. This "mark" will be required to legally partake in the end-time economic system.[15] 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 "deadly wound".[16]

The "Dragon" (interpreted as Satan), the "Beast" (often interpreted as the Antichrist), the "false prophet" (interpreted in many ways) who compels the world to worship the Beast, and all who received the Antichrist's mark (cast their lot with him) will be the first occupants thrown into the Lake of Fire, and then commences the millennium. 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 8 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."[17]

In other views, the role is far less dramatic. Some believe the Antichrist 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.

[edit] 1st millennium

According to Bernard McGinn, in Christianity's early days the Antichrist was identified variously as the spirit of heresy (by Polycarp), the Roman empire (by Irenaeus), or the resurrected Nero (by John Chrysostom).[citation needed]

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'?"[18]

[edit] 2nd millennium

During the second millennium, certain Christian sects believed that the Antichrist would 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.

The Antichrist, by Lucas Cranach the Elder – 1521, commissioned by Martin Luther. Cranach was a Lutheran and therefore portrayed the Antichrist as the Pope, complete with the papal tiara.
The Antichrist, by Lucas Cranach the Elder – 1521, commissioned by Martin Luther. Cranach was a Lutheran and therefore portrayed the Antichrist as the Pope, complete with the papal tiara.

Some of the Spiritual Franciscans considered the Emperor Frederick II a positive Antichrist who would clean the Church from riches and clergy.[19]

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.[citation needed] The Centuriators of Magdeburg, a group of Lutheran scholars in Magdeburg headed by Matthias Flacius, wrote the 12-volume "Magdeburg Centuries" to discredit the papacy and identify 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.

The Lutheran Churches of the Reformation,[20] the Concordia Lutheran Conference,[21] the Church of the Lutheran Confession,[22] and the Illinois Lutheran Conference[23] all hold to The Brief Statement of the Missouri Synod (1932), which states, "As to the Antichrist we teach that the prophecies of the Holy Scriptures concerning the Antichrist, 2 Thess. 2: 3-12; 1 John 2:18, have been fulfilled in the Pope of Rome and his dominion."[20]

In 1959 the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) formally issued its Statement on the Antichrist, a doctrinal statement that declared, "we reaffirm the statement of the Lutheran Confessions, that 'the Pope is the very Antichrist'".[24]

After the reforms of Patriarch Nikon to the Russian Orthodox Church of 1652, a large number of Old Believers held that czar Peter the Great was the Antichrist[25] because of his treatment of the Orthodox Church, namely separating church from state, requiring clergymen 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 stabbed faith healer Rasputin, cutting a large wound in his chest, in belief that he was the Antichrist due to his supposedly evil influences over the czar and czarina. He fully recovered.[citation needed]

Preterists look to an early antichrist, interpreting many ancient figures as the Beast of the Apocalypse. These interpretations include 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. This is supported by some numerological interpretations.[citation needed] This tumultuous period included an increase of superstitious fear and mob violence against Christians, and intensification of the Roman wars against the Jews (AD 66–70), the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 under the command of general Titus (later emperor), and the slaughter of the Jews who were living in Jerusalem. According to tradition, Nero ordered the crucifixion of St. Peter and the beheading of Saint Paul. Both Jewish and Christian literature survive which refer to Emperor Nero as the Antichrist. A more detailed description of this Preterist interpretation can be found in the entry on the Book of Revelation.

Some Muslims and others (notably English political radical Jeremy Bentham) theorize that Paul of Tarsus fulfilled the role of the Antichrist within the chronicles of the New Testament of the Bible itself[citation needed]. 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. For example, the Westminster Confession of Faith states:

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.[26]

The view of Futurism, a product of the Counter-Reformation, was advanced beginning in the 16th century in response to the identification of the Papacy as Antichrist. Francisco Ribera, A Jesuit priest, developed this theory in In Sacrum Beati Ioannis Apostoli, & Evangelistiae Apocalypsin Commentarij, his 1585 treatise on the Apocalypse of John. St. Bellarmine codified this view, giving 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. Most premillennial dispensationalists now accept Bellarmine's interpretation in modified form.[citation needed] Ian Paisley, MEP and the leader of the Free Presbyterian Church, loudly denounced then-Pope John Paul II as the Antichrist in 1988 while the pontiff was giving a speech at a sitting of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

[edit] Contemporary identification

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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2007)

Contemporary conservative Confessional Lutherans still 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. Statement 43, Of the Antichrist:

43. As to the Antichrist we teach that the prophecies of the Holy Scriptures concerning the Antichrist, 2 Thess. 2:3-12; 1 John 2:18, have been fulfilled in the Pope of Rome and his dominion. All the features of the Antichrist as drawn in these prophecies, including the most abominable and horrible ones, for example, that the Antichrist "as God sitteth in the temple of God," 2 Thess. 2:4; that he anathematizes the very heart of the Gospel of Christ, that is, the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins by grace alone, for Christ's sake alone, through faith alone, without any merit or worthiness in man (Rom. 3:20-28; Gal. 2:16); that he recognizes only those as members of the Christian Church who bow to his authority; and that, like a deluge, he had inundated the whole Church with his antichristian doctrines till God revealed him through the Reformation -- these very features are the outstanding characteristics of the Papacy. (Cf. Smalcald Articles, Triglot, p. 515, Paragraphs 39-41; p. 401, Paragraph 45; M. pp. 336, 258.) Hence we subscribe to the statement of our Confessions that the Pope is "the very Antichrist." (Smalcald Articles, Triglot, p. 475, Paragraph 10; M., p. 308.)[27]

Some Christians equate the Antichrist with a powerful beast with seven heads and ten horns that blasphemes against God, as described in the Bible.[28] Some theorists attribute the wounding and resurgence in Revelation 13:3 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.[citation needed] Another interpretation associates this verse with 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).[29]

Unidentified sources near Pope John Paul II reported in 2003 that he considered that George W. Bush might be the Antichrist, and wished that he were younger and in better health to confront him.[30].[31]

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 21st 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, although Muslims also believe in the false Messiah, known as Messiah Dajjal.

Some Philippine Protestant Churches and groups (example of which is the Kahayag Mission Group) consider the Mary of the various apparitions (e.g. Our Lady of Fatima) as the Antichrist.

While the Antichrist is not mentioned by any name or title in the Qur'an,[32] Muslims believe that the false messiah or "Maseeh Dajjal" in Arabic (also called) " Awar Dajjal" and "The One Eyed Liar") will come to Earth with great power and that Muslims 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).

Jerry Falwell addressed a pastors' conference in January 1999, stating in a sermon on the Second Coming that the Antichrist was probably alive on earth, and certainly a Jewish male.[33] 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.[citation needed]

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche called himself the Antichrist, going so 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."

José Luis de Jesús 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 Jesús 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.[citation needed]

Certain occultists have proclaimed themselves to be the Antichrist, including John Whiteside Parsons. The Antichrist is a popular archetype for villainous behavior.

[edit] Left Behind

The Left Behind movie series focuses on the coming of the antichrist,

[edit] References

  1. ^ Strong's G500 Word Search Results for "antichristos (Strong's 500) Strong's antichristos (Strong's 500)". The Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
  2. ^ Daniel 7 (King James Version). BibleGateway.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
  3. ^ 1 John 2:18
  4. ^ 1 John 2:22
  5. ^ a b 1 John 4:3
  6. ^ 2 John 1:7
  7. ^ Matthew 24:5, 24:24
  8. ^ 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
  9. ^ http://http-server.carleton.ca/~jopp/3850/1-1.htm
  10. ^ http://http-server.carleton.ca/~jopp/3850/1-1.htm
  11. ^ Genesis 49:17 (King James Version). BibleGateway.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
  12. ^ Revelation 7:1-8 (King James Version). BibleGateway.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
  13. ^ http://biblelight.net/satan.htm
  14. ^ Matthew 24:21 (King James Version). BibleGateway.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  15. ^ Revelation 13:16-17 (King James Version). BibleGateway.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  16. ^ Pink, Arthur W. (1923). The Antichrist Chapter 6, The Career of the Antichrist. biblebelievers.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-25.
  17. ^ Daniel 8:23-25 (NIV)
  18. ^ The Interference of Otho the Great. Christian Classic Etherial Library. Retrieved on 2007-06-25.
  19. ^ Marvin Harris. Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches, 196. 
  20. ^ a b Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod. Concordia Publishing House (1932). Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  21. ^ Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod in the By-Gone Days of Its Orthodoxy (1932). Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  22. ^ A Brief Statement of our Doctrinal Position (1932). Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  23. ^ Doctrinal Position. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  24. ^ Statement on the Antichrist. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  25. ^ Peter I, czar of Russia. The Columbia Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  26. ^ Col. 1:18; Matt. 28:18-20; Eph. 4:11-12; 2 Thess. 2:2-9
  27. ^ Of the Antichrist. Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (1932). Retrieved on 2008-02-25.
  28. ^ Revelation 13:1-8
  29. ^ Bodson, Gerard. Cracking the Apocalypse Code
  30. ^ Pope fears Bush is Antichrist, journalist contends. Catholic New Times (2003-05-18).
  31. ^ Wayne Madsen (2003-04-22). Bush's "Christian" blood cult:concerns raised by the Vatican. CounterPunch.
  32. ^ Sahih Bukhari (Hadith Collection): Available Online in English
  33. ^ Merrill Simon (1999 (first edition)). Jerry Falwell and the Jews. Jonathan David Pub. 

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

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