revealing Antichrist -- part 1

Everything I am certain I know about Bible prophecy tells me that we are on the very cusp of the beginning of the Tribulation.  THUS, the Rapture must be closer still—in fact, we can now (but only now) say that the Rapture truly is “imminent”.

But there is another very significant ‘event’ which, in Scripture, is intimately associated with the Rapture, namely: Antichrist must be “revealed”.

2 Thessalonians 2:4b-8a

“...as that the day of Christ is at hand.  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.  And then shall that Wicked be revealed…"

The question of whether the revealing of Antichrist occurs just prior to, or soon after, the Rapture, is not really the issue—for our purposes in this present discussion.

Rather, what we want to consider, is, how are events both in the world and in the worldly church shaping up to facilitate the revealing of the Antichrist?

As it has happened throughout this generation, the character, that is to say the person, of Antichrist has been portrayed, by many ‘mainstream’ (well known) Bible prophecy teachers, as being:

• a charming and charismatic world leader (even exceptionally ‘good-looking’, as some say)
• a genius; a great problem-solver
• a peacemaker
• extraordinarily astute concerning economics and geopolitics
• a human being

NONE of those above-listed traits, however—including the last one in the list—agrees with Scripture.

In contrast to popular prophecy teaching; the Bible indicates that Antichrist shall:

• quickly rise to world power—but not by any “charm” or “charisma"
• possess a certain kind of super-intelligence (“understanding dark sentences”)—but not that Antichrist shall be any sort of "problem-solver"
• agree to (“confirm”) a specific treaty of peace (which he shall later violate)—but nowhere in Scripture is Antichrist described as being a “peacemaker”
• NOT control global economics, per se; Antichrist is NOT the one who integrates the global economy and imposes the system involving the ‘mark of the Beast’—but, rather, the “false prophet” is responsible for all of that
• NOT be a human being—a discussion of which follows…..

There are several places in Scripture, which strongly suggest that Antichrist shall not be a human being:

Rev. 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

 Rev. 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition…

Rev. 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone...

The “beast”—which we know is a reference to the Antichrist—is FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT.  Furthermore, the beast—together with the false prophet—are both CAST (ALIVE) INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE, at Christ’s Second Coming.  Whereas, every HUMAN being which has ever lived MUST APPEAR AT THE “GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT”.  The beast and the false prophet, however, do NOT appear at that Judgment, but they are the first to go straightaway to the lake of fire.

Following, then, is a concise description of the person and work of the Antichrist, as that individual is described—not in popular (albeit false) teaching—but in SCRIPTURE:

Antichrist is:

• from the bottomless pit
• not a human being
• a very ancient being (“was, and is not; and shall ascend out of..”)
• supernaturally powerful
• virulently God-hating — albeit desirous of worship to himself: thus, expressions of ‘religion’ involving ‘worship’ will be encouraged (demanded)
• empowered by Satan himself—yet, as the UNSEEN power 
• ‘worshiped’ by the whole world (excepting, 144,000 Jews)
• appear—for a short while (~3-1/2 yrs.?)—to be interested in peace on earth
• be instrumental as central to a “great deception”—which God Himself shall send upon the earth, as judgment against the whole world during the Tribulation

We need to reorient our thinking about who Antichrist is.  Popular (mainstream) Bible prophecy teaching— I am now completely convinced — is INTENDED to mislead, in order to deceive.  Thus, while the vast majority of professing ‘Christians’ are entirely ignorant of—because they are completely indifferent to—the return of Christ, yet, there remains a relatively small percentage of others, professing ‘Christians’, who at least are interested in “Bible prophecy” (probably, because it is intellectually stimulating?).  Lastly, there is a remnant—a very small number—of genuine disciples of Jesus Christ, who truly love Christ and his appearing for them; and it is to them, only, that light is given, to understand the hidden things of prophetic Scripture (Daniel 12:10).

It is furthermore vitally important to understand that, the First Seal having already been opened more than a century ago, powerful deception has now LONG BEEN WORKING WITHIN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH: which, finally, in the context of the resultant, and now far-advanced APOSTASY, has finally brought to light the ‘BABYLONISH’ RELIGIOUS SYSTEM FALSELY CALLED ‘CHRISTIANITY’.  We should thus at least suspect that what things are POPULARLY BELIEVED, pertaining to Bible prophecy, may not in fact be the truth of God.  Certainly, I have found that to be so.

A supernaturally-motivated conspiracy has long been working to prepare the world (including, especially, the worldly ‘Church’) for the appearing of the Antichrist.  That evil conspiracy is now very far advanced and, indeed, ready to bring forth its great purpose, namely, the revealing of Antichrist.

How, then, shall the revealing of Antichrist effectually serve to DECEIVE the whole world?—in the case, as that is widely supposed, that mainstream prophecy teaching WERE TRUE.  Would it not then be the case that very many people would NOT be surprised and they would NOT be deceived by Antichrist—seeing, that they supposedly understood the truth about Antichrist, i.e., his appearing, his character, his purpose, and his methods?  Consider, in point of fact, the phenomenal popularity of the “Left Behind” series including now 16 books and two major motion pictures.  Evidently, some very large number of people have imbibed the ideas conveyed by those materials.

DECEPTION is the name of the game.  The ‘Church’—as that is widely albeit uncritically conceived of—is dead asleep.  Meanwhile, famous personalities—such as Dr. David Jeremiah, et al—are inculcating such nonsense, as the following:

• the Apostasy is yet future
• the appearing of the Antichrist is still far distant
• Christians should not expect any great move of God—until the Tribulation has begun
• THEN (during the Tribulation) there is coming the greatest Revival the world has ever known
• Multitudes—who missed the Rapture—will yet have a ‘second chance’ to be saved

Antichrist is ready to be revealed.  His ‘unveiling’ is being called, by some, “Disclosure”;—although, ALMOST NONE of those who are speaking about “Disclosure” have any inkling of Scriptural truth.

Yet, there is a very small number—a handful, as it were—of Bible teachers who seem to have some meaningful insights concerning the soon appearing of Antichrist……

We’ll look at what they are saying—and how a number of those things accord with Scripture—in the next post.