Who is the antichrist?

I think that's an interesting point of view.

I have always thought he would have some sort of claim to be a Jew in the line of David. Beyond that, I am hesitant to lock into one view or another. The Pharisees were wrong on the interpretations and so hard headed that most missed Christ.

I plan not to be here for his ascendency... but I don't want to perpetuate bad information that might help deceive people during his reign.

 

I don't know how related this is, but the thought came to me when I read this thread.

Our pastor tonight mentioned that one of the Islamic big-wigs in Iraq mentioned, after the election, that it would be great to have an Iraq where Islamics, Christians and Jews could all worship freely. Scott knows my thoughts about things being too good to be true.

I wonder if this could be a hint. (Who knows, even Paul thought he would see Jesus during his time.) I always thought since the anti-christ would desecrate the temple that he would not be Jewish himself, but some peacemaker allowed into Israel.

If we look at Israel's politics, the younger people do not hold the same strong beliefs as the adults. The young people would just soon give away the west bank than worry too much about the lack of security. Youth like this could allow Israel to become weak enough to allow an outside peacemaking liar to come in and do his thing.

Just something to think about.

 

I have actually been praying that God would open Iraq to the gospel again.

You could be right about the anti-christ. Really hard to say what obscure part of prophecy might hold the key.

 

The traditional point of view may be that the Antichrist will be the Pope.

 

I believe he will be of Roman descent.(Not necessarily Italian, as there were Romans scattered all about the shores of the Mediterranean)

This is based upon Daniel 9:26. In Daniel's day, Jerusalem had already been partially destroyed by the Babylonians, so this prophecy wasn't about THAT time. The only other time Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed was in 70 AD by the Romans.

Daniel 9:26, NKJV "And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.

The last part of the verse may allude to the AC's war, OR it may allude to a "flood" of Romans who overran Jerusalem, both in 70 AD and in 135 AD under Hadrian.

A pope of Roman ancestry MAY be a candidate, but this is too obvious a target. I cannot now imagine any modern Pope having that kind of power, especially in the "superpower" nations.

Some of the more ridiculous guesses as to whom the AC may be include Henry Kissinger, Prince Charles, a future emperor of Japan, Bill Clinton, Dr. Peter Ruckman, and just about every head of state in Europe.

I believe he will come to power quietly, behind the scene, as Hitler did, until his time arrives & he will perform some sorta great feat such as brokering a genuine-appearing peace between Jew & Moslem, winning him world acclaim. It DOES behoove us to watch world events carefully lest we be caught unawares.

 

No, the Antichrist may well be jewish, but the False Prophet's role could certainly be served by a pope.


Rebel [><]

 

In today's world, one person could claim to be almost all of these things at once (except for Pope). In fact a Chamelion would probably be the proper opposite of the Rock.

 

Which one? The Apostle teaches the following about the antichrist. The antichrists are mentioned nowhere else in Scripture.

1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1 John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
1 John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
2 John 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

 

I believe there have been and still are many antichrists. I even believe some of them may not even know they are antichrists, some may even appear on Christian TV and "perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible".

I think most people who fill the pews in America think they would be able to spot the Antichrist, they think it will be someone like Hitler, or Saddam, or the Pope, someone that the Christians would be able to pick out of the crowd.

I believe the Antichrst will come out of the church (little "c") and will know the Scriptures, will appear on TBN and be featured on the cover of many Christian magazines, he will be able to "perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible".

 

Perhaps it was Nero.

 

I deffinately believe Nero was one of the many antichrists!

 

I think that whoever we think the Antichrist will be means that he will probably be someone other than who we think he will be!

I'm with JGrubbs. I think it's more likely to be something like this. Since the Bible says that it will be almost possible to deceive even the elect, then the antichrist is going to appear to be a Christian, someone who is successful, respected, and loved by many.

 

The antichrist will certainly be somebody like emperor Nero (that's after all what this whole 666 bussiness is about). On top of that he will be hard to spot.
Flamboyant ruthless dictator, with delusions of grandure, quite possibly insane as well and difficult to recognize nonetheless.
He has to be a docetist (that's the heresy that jezus never had a real flesh&blood body.) and a denier of Jezus' being the messiah as well. The last 2 basically rule out all of the popes untill now.

 

robycop3
"I believe he will come to power quietly, behind the scene, as Hitler did, until his time arrives & he will perform some sorta great feat such as brokering a genuine-appearing peace between Jew & Moslem, winning him world acclaim."
"
One troubling consequence of this idea (which has merit in itself) is that anybody who tries to broker some large feat of international coöperation, like a peace deal immediatly tends to become a suspect. This is one of the reasons that the UN is so unpopular on this board.

 

It is speculations like those offered in the OP that lead me to watch with GREAT INTEREST any information regarding renewed JEWISH attempts to prepare for the rebuilding of the TEMPLE.I have many websites linked on my favorites list regarding that very subject and they are all fascinating!Also we should watch closely what happens with the current POPE as his health seems to be failing more and more daily.It will be interesting to see WHO comes after him.

Greg Sr.

 

Contrary to what some have thought, the Pope is a good candidate for Antichrist because he is a political leader and head of a nation-state. In fact, he is more concerned with world politics than he is Salvation of souls because Catholicism has become a repository of ideas about cosmic justice and other lost causes. Catholicism never answered the Protestant Reformation. The Renaissance merely substituted material prosperity and nude statues for faith in Jesus.

 

CMG
All of that doesn't matter one bit. To be an (let alone the) Anti-Christ one has to deny the Jezus is the Christ and to deny that he has come in the flesh. No pope has ever done that.
The fact that most popes have been very bad men doesn't mean anything compared to that.

 

GODzThunder
With 1 billion Catholics under his banner the pope has something of a head start in that department.