Antichrist

For all the coverage in movies, television shows, books, and sermons, the Antichrist gets surprisingly little space in the Christian New Testament. Popular conservative theology paints a detailed picture of the mysterious being who will appear at the end of time to mimic and challenge Jesus Christ before his Second Coming. Antichrist is "the man of sin" who, along with his sidekick, "the false prophet," will rule over a ten-kingdom federation of nations that will introduce worldwide governmental control, forcing all who wish to "buy and sell" to receive "the mark of the beast" on their hand or forehead. His mystical number is 666. Although he will eventually be destroyed at the battle of Armageddon and the return of Christ, many conservative students of prophecy believe he will first deceive the nations of the earth. This deception will occur during the seven-year period of Tribulation following the Rapture, or "snatching away," of the faithful who are still living "at the sound of the trumpet" of God. Following their disappearance, the Antichrist will deceive the nations, causing three and a half years of peace, followed by three and a half years of deception and warfare called the Great Tribulation. Then Christ will return at the Second Coming and destroy him, along with the false prophet. Satan, the power behind Antichrist, will be imprisoned for a thousand years. This is the Millennium, during which the earth will be recycled for use during a time of peace, when "the lamb will lay down with the lion and a little child will lead them." Although his destruction is predetermined, Satan will be given a brief period of time to live following his release. But, along with the Antichrist and his false prophet, the devil is doomed to failure.

This view of coming attractions begins with only four verses in the Bible, all found in 1 and 2 John, in which the Antichrist is depicted as a "spirit [that] shall come." This spirit will "deny the Father … and is a deceiver." John even says, "there are many antichrists."

These verses are the only ones in which the word "antichrist" appears in Christian scripture. The rest of the story comes from interpretations based on differing opinions coaxed out of the book of Revelation, perhaps the most disputed book in the New Testament.

Although he wasn't the first, Hal Lindsey was perhaps the most popular modern exponent of Antichrist lore. His book The Late Great Planet Earth, first published in the 1970s, sold millions of copies and led the way for the best-selling "Left Behind" series of novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins that occupied the top of the fiction charts beginning in the mid-1990s.

Antichrist lore is a modern phenomenon. There is no tradition of antichrist legend, except for the occasional labeling of perceived enemies as "antichrist" when disagreements arose. Martin Luther, for instance, called the Pope "antichrist."

This fact does not deter modern writers. They point to Daniel 12:9, which says, "these things will be sealed up until the time of the end." Because the "elect" now understand the truth of the Antichrist, that is only proof that we are living in "the time of the end" when "all these things must come to pass."

People have long tried to decipher the mysterious sign of the Antichrist, the numbers 666. Some, using a form of numerology, have assigned numerical values to letters to derive the number 666 by adding up the values of the letters in certain words, names, or phrases. One result of this formula was the Greek word Latéinos for "Latin Kingdom," referring to the Roman Catholic Church. During the "shuttle diplomacy" of the 1970s it was discovered that the last name of Henry Kissinger, through a formula in which A=1x6, B=2x6, etc., added up to 666. This conclusion was presented by some as "proof" that Dr. Kissinger was about to design a Middle East peace treaty ushering in the time of deception that would prepare the way for the Antichrist and his one-world government. Later, some observers considered the birthmark on the forehead of Mikhail Gorbachev, general secretary and president of the U.S.S.R., the "mark of the beast," which pointed to him as a potential Antichrist candidate.

Since then new candidates have appeared from time to time. Following the field of eschatology (end-time theology) requires a breadth of biblical knowledge. Events are strung together from Genesis to Revelation. Single verses from separate books of the Bible are placed out of their local context into a bigger scheme. Because many people don't have this kind of background, it is easy to be convinced of the truth of the story without realizing that the only references referring to the Antichrist by name are found in 1 John 2:18, 2:22, and 4:3, and in 2 John 2:18.

(See also Apocalypse; Armageddon)

Sources: Bucke, Emory Stevens et al, eds. The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. 4 vols. New York: Abingdon Press, 1962. Douglas, J. D., ed. The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing, 1974. May, Herbert G., and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Rev. ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973. Strong, James. The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. New York: Abingdon Press, 1890.