Theory on the Ant-Christ

[robbieb]

Hi im new to this site and I was thinking; what if the anti-christ is not an actual person but a generation of people. I seems that society is turning away from god and becoming more hostile towards christians as generations come and go. It is going to be harder for later generations to accept christianity as a moral foundation because look what is happening now; christianity as a moral standard is being replaced by individualism. What im saying is what if the anti-christ is the body of people who are now anti-christian?

[CeT-To]

For 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.

[B. W.]

One key needed to understand this would be that the anti-Christ people will involve a religious and political system that is both anti-Christ and anti-Jew.

Islam fits both descriptions, religious and political, to a tee and is becoming more worldwide domineering.

Another political system is the progressive left i.e. neo Marxist / anti colonialist crowd.
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[secretfire6]

There is a warning in the gospels...cant find it at the moment or remember who exactly said it...may have been the Messiah himself. Anyway it goes something like 'so be wary of the ones who will come in my name and say "i am him" .they are the deceptive ones, the antichrist of which there are many among you now'. I probably butchered that one or maybe its a hybrid of two seperate verses..can somone help me out with that?
Nostrodamus Prohpesied of 3 "great antichrists" that were Napoleon, Hitler and one yet to come who will be worse than these 2 combined. anyway you are correct in a way that there is a general antichrist wave of feeling rushing over the world lately. You might even call it the "anti-holy spirit". However there is evidence of a single individual that will lead the final attack on and slaughter of God's people. In revelation and Daniel there is much talk about beasts and horns. In Daniel we learn that a horn is representation of a king or ruler. Repeatedly there is talk of a future horn that has eyes and a mouth of a man and he speaks highly of himself and blasphemes God. Revelation talks about him comming as a prince of peace, but it is a false peace and that he will stand inside the temple and declare himself a god and declare war against..well anyone who doesnt bow to him. This, to me sounds like a single person.
Remember, Satan tries to mimic what God does. God sent a savior, part of himself, in human form to serve as a helper, ransom for our sins and set up a new covenant as well as a new church. Likewise Satan will send something in human form and once he has gained power he will serve to hinder and hurt, give us over to sin and death, set up his own kingdom (the beast) and his own church.

[B. W.]

There is a warning in the gospels...cant find it at the moment or remember who exactly said it...may have been the Messiah himself. Anyway it goes something like 'so be wary of the ones who will come in my name and say "i am him" .they are the deceptive ones, the antichrist of which there are many among you now'. I probably butchered that one or maybe its a hybrid of two seperate verses..can somone help me out with that?

Nostrodamus Prohpesied of 3 "great antichrists" that were Napoleon, Hitler and one yet to come who will be worse than these 2 combined. anyway you are correct in a way that there is a general antichrist wave of feeling rushing over the world lately. You might even call it the "anti-holy spirit". However there is evidence of a single individual that will lead the final attack on and slaughter of God's people. In revelation and Daniel there is much talk about beasts and horns. In Daniel we learn that a horn is representation of a king or ruler. Repeatedly there is talk of a future horn that has eyes and a mouth of a man and he speaks highly of himself and blasphemes God. Revelation talks about him comming as a prince of peace, but it is a false peace and that he will stand inside the temple and declare himself a god and declare war against..well anyone who doesnt bow to him. This, to me sounds like a single person.

Remember, Satan tries to mimic what God does. God sent a savior, part of himself, in human form to serve as a helper, ransom for our sins and set up a new covenant as well as a new church. Likewise Satan will send something in human form and once he has gained power he will serve to hinder and hurt, give us over to sin and death, set up his own kingdom (the beast) and his own church.

Good points, you brought up!
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[puritan lad]

See Anti-Christ: The Biblical View

[Canuckster1127]

See Anti-Christ: The Biblical View

A Biblical view perhaps, but not necessarily the only one.

[puritan lad]

It's certainly open for criticism.

[secretfire6]

Cool, thanks for the link. I've heard much of this information and these theories before as well, even on TV and I do agree with alot of them. However, I have a couple main issues with them that lead me to belive it is incorrect in the end. I also see my error in calling this final leader of the Beast "the antichrist" as I acctually do believe the scriptures and know that there are many antichrists out there past, present and future. It's become a habbit I guess.
The belief that the Beast of scripture was Nero's Rome has more problems than it has parallels. The make-up of the beast it'self as seven heads (regions/kingdoms) and ten horns (rulers/kings) doesn't fit well. Nero's empire had regions, but if I remember right there weren't 7 and they were all under the uniform control of the emperor Nero himself. The old kings or rulers of the conquered lands were either dead or had no real power. The scriptures also say that the beast could not and would not be conquered by any man or any other kingdom. Christ himself would bring this one to it's end. As the website said, Nero had one of his serveants kill him (death by a man) and the ancient Roman empire fell as a whole to the Germanic barbarians and the Huns (another kingdom). The biggest issue is that, if Nero was the horn with eyes and a mouth and if his Roman empire was the Beast in Daniel and Revelation, then where are we now? Is this the end of Christ's millenial reign? Is Satan bound in the abyss? In my opinion, no. These things have yet to happen.
Then there are things that the false prophet would do that didn't happen in Nero's time. Such as decieving all the tribes, tounges, and nations of the world to follow and worship the beast. Many of those under Roman occupation did not like Rome at all and continually fought for freedom. Then the image of the beast that could speak and kill those who didnt worship it. I have no idea what that could be in Nero's time......the Roman army???? Did Nero have a statue that people thought could speak and that people were martyred by? I just don't know. There are other things too, such as the judgements (trumpets and bowls mostly) that are not recorded as happening in the time of the old Roman empire.
I've heard of and looked into a few other theories too, including that the Beast was/is: The European Union, Nazi Germany, the Roman Catholic church or a resurrection of the Mongols. All of them had good points that paralleled the scriptures, but all of them also have fatal flaws that led me to conclude them as incorrect. Personaly I don't think the city of Rome or the country of Italy is going to rise up and conquer the world, Rather I understand that the "revived Roman empire" means that whatever the kingdom that the Beast is, will behave and operate much like ancient Rome did. Likewise with the name "Nero" that the coded 666 likely represents may not be saying that Nero ceasar was the "horn" or that he will be resurrected in the future, but that the person who will take that position will be very much like Nero was (arrogant, deceptive, hateful and murderous). For the ancients, the most important aspect about a name was that it was a description about that person, their ancestry or their life.

[MarcusOfLycia]

I don't necessarily agree with the idea that Nero was the Beast, but the 7 horns thing could fit with the Roman Empire. The city of Rome was founded on the expansion of cities on 7 hills.

[secretfire6]

real quick I wanted to say thank you to BW and puritan lad. I also just remembered and then re read this verse: Revelation 13:3 "and I saw one of it's heads as though slaughtered to death, but it's death-stroke got healed, and all the earth followed the wild beast with admiration." several other references are made to this beast having a mortal wound that was healed. what could this be? To me its saying that one of the kingdoms or regions that make up the beast is one that was thought to have been dead, but is broguht back to life. The verse before it mentions the beast having features of a lion (babylon), a bear (medo-persia) and a leopard (ancient Greece) but does not mention anything pertaining to Rome....hmmmm.

[secretfire6]

hey Marcus, 7 hills..hmmmm could be. I generally see horns as a representation of kings or kingdoms. I get this from Daniel 7:23-26 and Daniel 8:1-12

[Katetblue]

This is an interesting topic and one I spent a lot of time researching.

This is what I believe-
According to Revelations 17:9 "Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are the seven mountains on which the woman sits, There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and one is yet to come."
-Rome sits on seven hills, this is obvious and true
-As to a place, the man of sin would come to power in the place from which the Caesar would be "taken out of the way;" that is, Rome. He would be of Roman Power.
-As to a Religion- The man of sin would exalt himself above all others in a Church-Not just as a leader but as the leader or head of the church.
There are many more references and I can provide scriptures if this topic remains of interest to anyone.

I believe the Roman Empire was the Antichrist for many reasons.

Ralph Woodrow wrote some excellent books and I also suggest Fox's Christian Martyrs (which can be read online) and of course the Bible which you all already know =)

[B. W.]

Look to Islam - it is Anti-Christ and has Iman's and prophets and expects a future prophet and Leader to emerge...

Then you have this written in Isaiah 19 - may not be of any value but rather interesting nevertheless -- and to keep watch in the coming months how things are shaping up in the middle east...

Isaiah 19:1, 2, 3, 4, "This is the divine revelation about Egypt. The LORD is riding on a fast-moving cloud and is coming to Egypt. Egypt's idols will tremble in his presence. Egypt's courage will fail. 2 "I will turn one Egyptian against another. They will fight- brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. 3 The Egyptians will lose courage. I will unravel their plans. They will turn to idols, ghosts, mediums, and fortunetellers. 4 I will hand over the Egyptians to a harsh master. A strong king will rule them," declares the Almighty LORD of Armies." NKJV

Look for an almost insane world wide hatred and disdain for the Jewish People to begin too...
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[puritan lad]

Look to Islam - it is Anti-Christ and has Iman's and prophets and expects a future prophet and Leader to emerge...

Then you have this written in Isaiah 19 - may not be of any value but rather interesting nevertheless -- and to keep watch in the coming months how things are shaping up in the middle east...

Look for an almost insane world wide hatred and disdain for the Jewish People to begin too...

Isaiah 19 makes no mention of Islam, and clearly has seen it's fulfillment in the very next Chapter. (Isaiah 20:1-4)