The AntiChrist 101 For Newbies

[debrand]

I just realized that some of you don't know biblical end times prophecies. You lucky people. When I was in the third or fourth grade a pastor terrified me with his sermon about the coming of Christ. According to him, the mild, children loving Jesus would ride a white horse and kill so many people that the blood would reach his horse's reins. I have no idea if that image is found in the bible.

Anyway for those lucky souls who have never heard end times stories, I found some sites for you.

israelsmessiah.com/prophecy/end_times/anti_christ.htm

The Middle East Peace Accord

According to Holy Scripture the coming world leader that will be the anti-Christ will rise to power through promises of saving the world from economic, military, and political issues that many will consider unsolvable. The gullible people of the world will see him as a savior of types, a man of "peace" that will usher mankind into the long awaited, and often heralded, New Age. The prophet Daniel warned us that the anti-Christ will destroy many by claiming a false peace:

Daniel 8:25; 11:21 "By peace he shall destroy many," and "he shall come in peaceably and obtain the kingdom by flatteries"

Scripture declares that a seven-year peace accord will be the means to quickly elevate that evil one to a position of world leadership. The

arewelivinginthelastdays.com/article/antichrist/antichrist.htm

He will be appealing, not repulsive. The Bible refers to the Antichrist as a blasphemous horn (Daniel 7:24-25), as lawless (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4), and a beast (Revelation 13:1-2) hardly an attractive list of descriptions, but we know that people will follow him (Revelation 13:3), so he will present himself as an alluring leader – at first. He will be super, not ordinary; everything about the Antichrist will be extraordinary. He will possess great eloquence, charm, wit, military genius, vision, and intelligence. He will be extremely influential, charismatic, a false champion of peace, and will possess strong leadership abilities. One could even say he’s a rock star.

In case you want their opinion, Glenn Beck and John Hagee believe the world will end in less than twenty years

http://ministryvalues.com/index.php?opt ... Itemid=125

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121816422728523227.html

Just to ease your mind, Lehaye says that Obama can't be the antiChrist

The Rev. Tim LaHaye, co-author of the series, said in an interview that he recognized allusions to his work in the ad but comparisons between Sen. Obama and the antichrist are incorrect.

"The antichrist isn't going to be an American, so it can't possibly be Obama. The Bible makes it clear he will be from an obscure place, like Romania," the 82-year-old author said

The antiChrist might be gay

.raptureready.com/faq/faq429.html

This question arises from the following Scripture about Antichrist:

“Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all†(Dan. 11:37).

Many Bible scholars believe that the phrase “desire of women†here means that Antichrist, the world’s last and most terrible tyrant, will be homosexual. Other scholars believe that the “desire of women†mentioned here refers to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, as longed for among Jewish women who desire that the prophesied Christ be born to them

.

Another opinion might be more accurate. That is, this man will be so arrogant that nothing and no one can deter him from loving himself above all else. He will, much like Adolf Hitler, consider himself far too important to give much regard to women –especially to one woman.

So, the antiChrist will bring about world peace and a one world economy. He may or may not be gay but he won't like women. Also, he'll be from some obscure place.

[slh12280]

Thank you for this! Although I grew up with this stuff somehow I managed to block out some details? Now I can scare myself all over again!

[lilith]

This is slightly off topic, but.....

I do wonder if the people who proclaim that Obama must be the Antichrist realise that people have proclaimed other leaders to be the Antichrist for the exact same reasons? Napoleon being probably the most famous and relevent example.

Surely after this formula being applied to many leaders and them all failing to actually bring about the end of the world, people would look at other interpretations of Revelation.

[linnea27]

An "obscure" place? WTF? I didn't realize when the bible was written 2000 years ago that it was written with America as the central reference point.

[Arete]

The Apocalypse of St John (Revelation) was the last and most controversial book to be added to the new testament cannon in the 4th Century CE. I don't know how Catholicism interprets it, but the Eastern Orthodox Churches do not read Revelation in Church (the rotate through all the other books) and also do not believe in a "Rapture" and end times as laid out in Revelation. It was commonly thought to be the writer's view of the destruction of the Church at Ephesus. Since Revelation has been shrouded in controversy since the beginning, it is forbidden to preach from it in a EO Church.

Just wanted to clarify that the current 200 year old fixation with Revelation as predicting actual future events is uniquely revivalist Protestant. Scholars reading the original Greek are not even sure of most of the symbolism.

[MonkeyMomma]

The Apocalypse of St John (Revelation) was the last and most controversial book to be added to the new testament cannon in the 4th Century CE. I don't know how Catholicism interprets it, but the Eastern Orthodox Churches do not read Revelation in Church (the rotate through all the other books) and also do not believe in a "Rapture" and end times as laid out in Revelation. It was commonly thought to be the writer's view of the destruction of the Church at Ephesus. Since Revelation has been shrouded in controversy since the beginning, it is forbidden to preach from it in a EO Church.

Just wanted to clarify that the current 200 year old fixation with Revelation as predicting actual future events is uniquely revivalist Protestant. Scholars reading the original Greek are not even sure of most of the symbolism.

It shows up in the Catholic lectionary a few times. My understanding is that it's not to be interpreted literally, but we should read it with an understanding of the political context it was written in.

[thoughtful]

Thanks, Debrand.

The end-times stuff is yet another example of the mind-boggling self-centeredness and lack of perspective of these people.

Each one thinks "my generation is THE ONE -- I am so Godly, the world around me so corrupt -- this has to be it! Any minute now . . . " :roll:

And then it doesn't happen ("oh, darn it all to heck!"), and the next generation of self-righteous assholes gets to grow up and do it all over again.

[MarsGirl]

I grew up Catholic and never even know about Revelations until I started hanging out with Protestants. So I blame it on them! :P :)

Most of my liberal religious friends view Revelations as symbolic.

[grovelina]

Thanks for this. This whole concept is so foreign to me, when I was a christian, I remembered Acts 1:7, He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority, and ignored revelations because we were taught as Catholics it was not to be interpreted literally. I certainly did not have the imagination or the mental illness necessary to interpret the symbolism.

[Arete]

It shows up in the Catholic lectionary a few times. My understanding is that it's not to be interpreted literally, but we should read it with an understanding of the political context it was written in.

Thanks! I wasn't quite sure how it was treated in Catholicism, but since none of my Catholic friends throw around words like "rapture" and "tribulation" when discussing the trajectory of world events, I didn't figure it was being taught as "Left Behind" theology in CCD. :lol:

[CC3]

Thanks, Debrand.

The end-times stuff is yet another example of the mind-boggling self-centeredness and lack of perspective of these people.

Each one thinks "my generation is THE ONE -- I am so Godly, the world around me so corrupt -- this has to be it! Any minute now . . . " :roll:

And then it doesn't happen ("oh, darn it all to heck!"), and the next generation of self-righteous assholes gets to grow up and do it all over again.

I think some people get carried away thinking about the end times, because Jesus said to be ready at all times. Going on memory here, He said two will be in bed and one will be taken, two will be grinding and one will be gone. I love reading the Book of Revelation and have studied it. I don't know how anyone could take it literally. The imagery is gorgeous. I believe personally I should focus on the first seven chapters where the different churches are praised and panned to see how we as the whole of the church measure up today.

[Deleted01]

It shows up in the Catholic lectionary a few times. My understanding is that it's not to be interpreted literally, but we should read it with an understanding of the political context it was written in.

The Catholic view is at least partial, if not fully [link=https://www.google.com/search?q=preterist&sugexp=chrome,mod=14&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8]preterist[/link], a view soundly condemned by the literalist end-time rapturists. None of that rapture business in Catholicism. If anyone cares, John Martignoni has a lecture on Catholics and the Rapture that can be downloaded free. It pretty well stomps on the Left Behind theology.

[teddybear]

And didn't Martin Luther want to leave it out of his translation of the Bible, but in the end decided to leave it in? And after a brief google seach, I find that I am correct.

http://www.bible-researcher.com/antilegomena.html

Preface to the Revelation of St. John (1522) 7

About this book of the Revelation of John, I leave everyone free to hold his own opinions. I would not have anyone bound to my opinion or judgment. I say what I feel. I miss more than one thing in this book, and it makes me consider it to be neither apostolic nor prophetic.

First and foremost, the apostles do not deal with visions, but prophesy in clear and plain words, as do Peter and Paul, and Christ in the gospel. For it befits the apostolic office to speak clearly of Christ and his deeds, without images and visions. Moreover there is no prophet in the Old Testament, to say nothing of the New, who deals so exclusively with visions and images. For myself, I think it approximates the Fourth Book of Esdras; 8 I can in no way detect that the Holy Spirit produced it.

Moreover he seems to me to be going much too far when he commends his own book so highly -- indeed, more than any of the other sacred books do, though they are much more important -- and threatens that if anyone takes away anything from it, God will take away from him, etc. Again, they are supposed to be blessed who keep what is written in this book; and yet no one knows what that is, to say nothing of keeping it. This is just the same as if we did not have the book at all. And there are many far better books available for us to keep.

Many of the fathers also rejected this book a long time ago; 9 although St. Jerome, to be sure, refers to it in exalted terms and says that it is above all praise and that there are as many mysteries in it as words. Still, Jerome cannot prove this at all, and his praise at numerous places is too generous.

Finally, let everyone think of it as his own spirit leads him. My spirit cannot accommodate itself to this book. For me this is reason enough not to think highly of it: Christ is neither taught nor known in it. But to teach Christ, this is the thing which an apostle is bound above all else to do; as Christ says in Acts 1, "You shall be my witnesses." Therefore I stick to the books which present Christ to me clearly and purely

[I love denim]

Oh, please don’t bring back those horrible memories. :(

I’m honestly envious of the individuals who have not been scared and/or scarred by prophecy/tribulation sermons. (Dating myself, I remember being drug to a lecture series about how Mikhail Gorbachev was the antichrist.) :?

[Vex]

At my Anglican school, we didn't read from revelations - because they didn't want to freak out kids with the imagery. Imagine that. I did read it for myself during church, though... I found it a bit more interesting than the other bible verses being read.

[Sumeri]

(Dating myself, I remember being drug to a lecture series about how Mikhail Gorbachev was the antichrist.) :?

:lol: I read this as Mikhail Baryshnikov and could only think of defrauding tights.

[FeministShrew]

When the first Gulf War started, fundieEXH1 was all excited because ZOMG! Jeebus is coming! Then he got scared & depressed because he was always afraid he wasn't "really saved" & was going to be left behind. The Left Behind books scared the holy shit out of him! :lol:

I can remember people arguing that Ronald Reagan (yes, the fundie favorite) was the antichrist because his name added up to some special number. Then Bill Clinton became "it" for awhile. My aunt is a hoarder & I found tracts from the '60's in her house claiming that JFK was the antichrist, because, hello, Catholic!