Who is the antichrist

Permit me the following conclusions:. All that said, I believe that equating this lawless one with one of the beasts of Revelation or with the antichrist may be too speculative, and possibly inaccurate. Scripture does speak to us of the end times and of difficult times preceding them, but the information is often given in general, even cryptic, terms. Just be ready, and when those times set in remember that Christ has already won the battle.

Viva Christo Rey! Catholic Standard El Pregonero. Latest Paper Classifieds Buy Photos. Thursday, Nov 11, Subscribe. Voices See All See All. Classifieds Submit a Classified Advertise. Newsletter Subscribe. Community in Mission. Who or What Is the Antichrist? A Reflection on the Biblical Teaching Oct 24, By Msgr. Charles Pope. Little children, it is the last hour: and as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time 1 John Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?

This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son 1 John By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist!

Paul teaches: As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here.

Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the Man of lawlessness is revealed, the one destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God 2 Thessalonians —4.

Trump is widely unpopular both at home and abroad. And as for his intelligence? Does Trump meet the diplomat criteria? The world is a disaster. But the kind of people who take the Book of Revelation very, very literally tend to believe that things will get much worse before the Antichrist shows up and promises stability.

There will be natural disasters, and plagues, and war. While climate change contributes to natural disasters, the world is not necessarily more violent than it has been at any previous point in human history. Trump, meanwhile, beats the war drums with Iran and denies climate change altogether. Does Trump meet the instability criterion? Christians Are Supposed to Be Persecuted. The time before the reign of the Antichrist is not a great one for Christians. It is a great time to be a Christian in the U.

Does Trump meet the anti-Christianity criterion? Yes , but only when the Christians are brown. So the bulk of the evidence seems to suggest that Trump is not the Antichrist. Or you could take the more exciting route, and refuse because you want to see what the Tribulation is like. There will be locusts and plagues and rivers of blood. The book makes for creative fiction, but it is not about the antichrist.

To get our bearings, we need to see where the Bible mentions the antichrist. However, it does show up in letters attributed to John. These letters speak to churches facing dire circumstances: a number of members now deny that Jesus was fully human on earth and have left community. This lack of proper belief in Jesus is so damaging that the author declares those who left the community are outside of the faith.

They do not know or follow Jesus. In 1 John, correct Christology is not limited to theoretical ideas; belief always leads to action. The Christians who left community no longer value the embodied community of the church.

They no longer value the reality of the incarnation. They do not live according to love. Instead of being deceived by those who have left, this community is called to remember that God is love. Jesus brings true life to those who believe and follow after him. Following Jesus always requires genuine believers to love one another 1 John The love of God is self-giving and communal, wanting the best for humanity: life through Jesus 1 John Chapter 13 also discusses the mark of the beast.

Much has been written about this number There may also be a reference with this number to the Roman emperor, Nero, as turning the letters of his name into numbers leads to ; however, it does not seem that Nero would fully fulfill this vision. Therefore, Nero would not be the ultimate beast, but this shows him as a forerunner and indications of what this figure might look like.

When it comes to this mark, we should see the connection between worshipping the beast and receiving the mark see , This does not seem to come accidentally, but rather through pledging allegiance to the beast and the spirit that opposes God. This connection or allusion to Nero may be a way of indicating that the vision John had points to this being a force that is at work in the present and not just in the future.

The language used in the Book of Revelation has connections to the Roman empire, which was the latest in a line of empires Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece that had been opposing the people of God. It did so through political as well as religious pressure, asking for people to worship the Roman emperor.