End Times: The Antichrist Defined
If one was going to consider the primary points about the ''Antichrist'' as they are stated in the Bible, one could only conclude that the Antichrist is not a human being but the widespread disbelief in God.
However, there are some theologians who insist that the Antichrist is in fact a man who at present exists and walks among us. They also contend that the Antichrist will ascend to power and become a global tyrant. Some have speculated that Hitler would come back, former presidents as well as George W. Bush.
To somewhat paraphrase Hal Lindsey’s book ''The Late Great Planet Earth,'' this is the era in which the Antichrist seizes control over the world thereby signaling the homecoming of Christ.
Yet, the Bible offers no foundations for Lindsey’s ideas. There are example after example in certain parts of the New Testament that clashes with Lindsey’s interesting but whimsical arguments.
In 1 John 2:18, John 7 there is no single individual that is designated to be ''the antichrist.'' What John proclaimed instead is that ''many antichrist'' have arisen.
Next in passage 1 John 2:18:4:3 counters Lindsey’s says that some ominous antichrist will appear in last part of the twentieth century. What John proclaimed instead is that there are a lot of antichrists ''in the first century and that even now.. there are several antichrists.
Although dispensationalism, a form of pre-millennialism that is in vogue right now, have much to say about Antichrist, but much of what they are saying is inaccurate. To look at these sentences one can’t help but realize that when John mentions ''antichrist'' it is used in connection to being locked in a state of unbelief. They were former Christians or people who pretended to be Christians in John’s day.
Be careful when looking at 1 John 2:18 don’t take it out of context and try to apply the verse to the 21st century. The antichrist is not a human being but a human emotion of disbelief.
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