BIBLICAL TEACHING ABOUT ANTI-CHRIST

I. Definition

The Anti-Christ is a person who will come to power at the end of the age. He will claim to be Jesus Christ coming the Second Time.

"He is the head of the last form of Gentile world dominion, and must be of Gentile origin." (Rev 13:1; 17:15, P-332). He must also arise out of the Gentile World, (Daniel 9:26-27).

II. Characteristics

A. Office

* "His influence is world-wide". (Rev 13:8, P-333) God revealed at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) that His plan for the nations of the world is to have sovereign nations, none of whom would be allowed absolute control over all the earth. However, during the last days, Anti-Christ would be allowed supreme dictatorship over the entire earth. This dictatorship would be political, spiritual, and economic. We see his political control in Revelation 13:16, where he forces both small and great to take the Mark of the Beast. The word "great" here literally means those who are politically powerful. We see the spiritual aspect in his forcing every one to worship him (Rev 13:8). Finally, we see the economic dictatorship in Revelation 13:16-17, where no one can buy or sell anything without the Mark of the Anti-Christ.

* "He eliminates three rulers in his rise to power." (Daniel 7:8, 24, P-333). Interestingly, these 3 rulers whom the Anti-Christ destroys in his rise to power are part of 10 Kings which shall rule the world in the last days. These Kings are also referred to as Horns and Toes.(Daniel 2:41-44 & 7:24). Many scholars have taught that these 10 Kings represent the European Common Market (the Old Roman Empire). However, we would prefer a much broader interpretation as to the identity of the 10 Toes of Daniel 2. We feel that the language of Daniel 2 and 7 indicate that the final kingdom spoken of is not a Revived Roman Empire; rather, it is the final form of a Roman Empire that never passed out of existence. In its final form, it will expand to cover the entire world. This interpretation would seem consistent with the known interpretation of the Man's Figure in Daniel 2, of which the 10 toes are the final part. This interpreta-tion would also be consistent with J. Dwight Pentecost's conclusion in his book, "Things To Come".

God seems to be foretelling here that the world's nations in the last days shall be reorganized into 10 Super-Nation states. As soon as this reorganization is completed, the Anti-Christ will arise (the Eleventh Horn, Daniel 7:8). New World Order planners have already devised their 10-Nation Reorganization. In 1974, a book entitled "Mankind At The Turning Point" devised a reorganization of the world's 170+ sovereign nations into 10 Super-Nations. We have listed these 10 Super Nations for you:

1. North America

 2. Western Europe

3. Japan

4. Australia, South Africa, and the rest of the market economy of the developed world.

5. Eastern Europe, including Russia

6. Latin America

7. North Africa and the Middle East

8. Tropical Africa

9. South and Southeast Asia

10. China

Early in 1991, George Bush and Congress began to create the economic entity comprised of Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The North American Super-Nation state is soon to be reality. Western Europe is the European Economic Community, which became an economic reality in December, 1992. Japan and China currently exist. Russia has now staged its disintegration so that its union with Eastern Europe can occur. Every other regional entity comprising this organization could be created in one hour of time, by simple vote of the United Nations. The time is really very late.

* " Anti-Christ is the head of Satan's lawless system (II Thess 2:3). He is the supreme example of rebellion against God." Blasphemy can be expressed in two basic ways:

1. Saying things which slander the character of God or which demean Him

2. Claiming to be God

The Anti-Christ will be guilty of both these blasphemies. Daniel pictures him in 7:20 as a horn which had a mouth speaking great things; Daniel 11:36 reveals he shall "exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and speak astonishing things against the God of gods.." We see this most clearly in the claim which Maitreya shall make that he is a Seventh-Level Occultic Adept whereas the Christ Consciousness which came upon Jesus Christ was only a Fourth-Level Adept. (Constance Cumbey, "Hidden Dangers Of The Rainbow", p. 96-97). How will the peoples of the world respond to this incredible blasphemy? Daniel 11:36 predicts he shall "prosper until ...that which is determined by God shall be done." In Revelation 13, we see the Anti-Christ successfully convincing the peoples of the world that he is god and is thus worthy of adoration, worship, and loyalty. Expression of this loyalty will require every unsaved person on earth to allow a mark to be permanently implanted in their hands and foreheads.

B. Personal Characteristics


* " Anti-Christ will be marked by intelligence, persua-siveness" (Daniel 7:8, 20; 8:23). Further, he will have an "understanding of dark trickery" (8:23), which means he will be an adept in the occult. This mastery of the occult will give him great power over the other leaders of the world. History records that Adolf Hitler possessed the occultic ability to overpower other world leaders in one-on-one dis-cussions by the force of the occultic power within him.

Indeed, the New World Order Plan states Anti-Christ will be the Supreme Adept of all time (Alice Bailey, "The Externalisation Of The Hierarchy). Occultic mastery has long been symbolized as the all-seeing eye (remember our $1 bill?).

* "He will be reknowned for his subtlety and craftiness (Ezekiel 28:6)". Another way of phrasing this is that he will be supremely deceitful. Daniel 8:23, 25, uses words like "understanding dark trickery and craftiness" to describe Anti-Christ. His deceit will help him achieve his goals. Remember Jesus' warnings in Matthew 24:11 & 24, that this false Christ will be allowed to show such "great signs & wonders so as to deceive even the very elect, if possible." These warnings of deceitful activities takes us to Revelation 13:13-14, where the False Prophet and Anti-Christ will be able to perform such false supernatural "miracles" that the peoples of the world are deceived. In past programs, we have reported on what some of these seemingly supernatural "miracles" are planned to be, and we will be reporting on still more on future programs.

The great over-riding feature of the entire system of the Anti-Christ -- the New World Order -- is blatant deceit. In fact, New World Order writers boast of their planned dec-eptions, because they arrogantly believe the great majority of the world's population is too stupid and lazy to know what is best for them. Only the New World Order Planners know what is best for the world, and they have determined that they can achieve their goals only by deliberate deception of the poor masses. (Bill Cooper, "Behold A Pale Horse", p. 49; Peter LeMesurier, "The Armageddon Script", 215-252).

* "He receives his authority from Satan and is controlled by Satan" (Rev 13:4; Daniel 8:25). Anti-Christ will attempt to annihilate Christians during the last 3 1/2 years (Daniel 7:25, 12:7, & Rev 13:1-6). Why would God allow those who have received Jesus as Lord and Savior to be slaughtered? God reveals, in Daniel 11:34, that "It will be a test, to refine, to purify, and to make those among God's people white, even to the time of the end." (Daniel 11:35). Incredibly, God has a specific number of Christian martyrs in mind, as we see in Revelation 6:9-11. "When the Lamb broke open the fifth seal I saw at the foot of the altar the souls of those whose lives had been sacrificed for adhering to the Word of God and for the testimony they had borne...they were each given a long and flowing white robe, and told to rest until the number should be complete of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed as they themselves had been." Revelation 12:11 further illustrates this martyrdom, "...for they did not love and cling to life even when faced with death..."

This temporary victory of Anti-Christ over the followers of Jesus Christ is illustrated in Daniel 12:7b, as God predicts Anti-Christ's victory shall "crush the power of the holy people" and "make an end of shattering". Jesus Christ will personally intervene when He physically returns to destroy the power of Anti-Christ, casting him into Hell.

* God has assigned the number '666' to the person and the name of the Anti-Christ (Revelation 13:17-18). Since the Anti-Christ will be an all-powerful dictator, we believe his system may embody many of the same characteristics ascribed to him. Thus, elements of his system will be identified with the number '666'. Interestingly, God's revelation is given in the 13th Chapter, verse 18. Is it coincidence that the number 18 is 6+6+6? Christian author, Mary Relfe, in her book, "The New Money System", states "In 1798, a Methodist Minister, Adam Clarke, wrote, 'The Mark of the Beast will be an 18-digit Number, 6+6+6.' In 1977, Dr. Hanrick Eldeman, Chief Analyst for the European Economic Community, announced that he was ready to begin assigning a Number to every person in the world; and that he 'plans to use a three six-digital unit, 18 Numbers'". (p.152 Is it just coincidence that each American today is personally identified already with a 9-digit Social Security Number plus a 9-digit Zip Code? We believe the time is very late.

III. Appearance

* "He will appear on the scene in the latter time of Israel's history" (Daniel 8:23), and "his rise comes through his peace program (Daniel 8:25, Pentecost, p. 333). The world today has been conditioned through our many wars and rumors of wars to desire peace at almost any cost. Headlines today scream a desire for Peace and Safety, just as the Apostle Paul predicted in 1 Thess 5:2. The birth pangs (Matthew 24) which shall give birth to the Anti-Christ are tremendous acts of violence and upheaval, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes all over the world, famines, and pestilences. As we discussed two weeks ago, these events will be occurring in the immediate time-frame preceding Anti-Christ's appearance. In fact, Maitreya the Christ will appear in the midst of such upheavals and disasters, receiving credit for solving them. This seemingly Super-Natural power to solve all these disasters will form the basis for most of the world's citizenry to accept him as Messiah. Anti-Christ will be supported by the many false miracles which the False Religious Prophet will perform on his behalf. Through the work of the False Prophet, the Anti-Christ will command worship to his talking statue (Rev 13:15) under the threat of physical death. At this point, Anti-Christ and the False Prophet are working hand-in-glove.

However, both Anti-Christ and the leaders of the 10-Nation Confederation will hate the False Prophet and his religious system. This hatred will be so pervasive that, at the earliest possible moment, they will destroy the False Religious system, which Jesus calls the "Great Harlot". We see the prophecy unfolding in Rev 17:16, "...the 10 horns that you saw, they and the beast will be the very ones to hate the harlot; they will make her desolate, and they will strip her and eat up her flesh, and utterly consume her with fire." This sounds ominously like atomic weapons; indeed, Alice Bailey continued her dissertation on the Anti-Christ's usage of atomic weapons. She said "...[the Atomic bomb] belongs to the United Nations for use or ...threatened use when aggressive action on the part of any nation rears its ugly head...It does not matter whether that aggression [occurs] from either nations or ... the Church of Rome, who as yet are unable to leave politics alone..." (The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 548).

Thus, you can see the hostility of the New World Order planners toward the Roman Catholic Church, against whom Alice Bailey has just threatened atomic warfare.

* Anti-Christ's appearance will "be preceded by a departure, either a departure from the faith or a departure of the Saints to be with the Lord." (II Thess 2:1-3). (Penecost, p. 332). As we have repeatedly asserted in the past several weeks, this departure from the faith is already occurring. The liberal Protestant Churches who are part of the World Council of Churches have denied the deity of Jesus Christ, the inerrancy of Scripture, and many other key doctrines. Once this departure from the faith is sufficiently completed, Anti-Christ can appear. We are at this point now with the National Council and World Council of Churches.

If the Holy Spirit intended the above departure to refer to the rapture of the Saints of God, Anti-Christ cannot be revealed until after the rapture. Indeed, many scholars hold this view.

Only time will tell which interpretation is correct, but we Christians should be prepared to endure the deceptive appearance of Anti-Christ. Since it is possible for Christians to see the appearance of Anti-Christ, how are we to know for certain that we are looking at the false? The Bible does give us definite guidance.

1. The False Christ will precede the True.

2. Jesus teaches (Matthew 24:31-41) that all Christians will meet Jesus Christ in the air. Paul reaffirms this teaching in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. So, if your feet are firmly on the ground when you are looking at the person claiming to be Jesus Christ, you know he is false.

3. Biblical prophecy indicated two comings of Messiah. He was to come as Suffering Servant and as Conquering King. We know Jesus fulfilled the Suffering Servant prophecies in His first coming. When He returns the second time, He will come as Conquering King. Therefore, He will not be repeat-ing any of His Suffering Servant Prophecies, such as riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Yet, Anti-Christ's Planners will stage this prophecy-fulfillment. Also, when False Messiah appears, he will come as a man of peace, as he "solves" the world's planned disasters. But, when Jesus Christ truly returns, He comes as an Avenging King, whose first official act will be to seize the False Messiah and False Prophet, slaughtering their armies at Armageddon.

4. When Jesus Christ returns, "every eye shall see Him" (Revelation 1:7). This prophecy cannot be fulfilled by Television, because over one-half of all peoples of today's world do not own a television.

5. The Holy Spirit has sealed all Christians to the Day of Redemption. Therefore, He will cause every true believer to know the truth. However, we should take seriously Jesus' words in Matthew 24:26, "if they say to you 'Behold, He is in the wilderness', do not go out there". When Anti-Christ appears, he will be accompanied by tremen-dous psychic power, Super-Natural miracles, subliminals and mind-control messages. I would urge all Christians to not watch him on television, because all these effects will be pouring through.

IV. Demise

God has declared the Anti-Christ is doomed to Hell. Jesus will personally slay the Anti-Christ when He returns. (Daniel 8:25). Then, God establishes His Kingdom through Jesus Christ forever and forever, Amen.

V. Conclusion

The New World Order is the Kingdom of Anti-Christ. His appearance is very close. Biblical prophecies concerning the last days are being uniquely fulfilled today by the plans of the New World Order. Occultic New Age "Guiding Spirits" are also telling their people that the appearance of Anti-Christ is very near. Together, these two sources provide unmistakable evidence that we are heading directly into the Great Tribulation period. What action must we take to prepare ourselves?

1. Purify our hearts and minds through total acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Remember God's revelation in Daniel 11:35, "...thus, the insincere among the people will lose courage and become deserters. It will be a test, to refine, to purify, and to make white those among God's people..." Are you ready spiritually for this refining test, should we have to go through the Great Tribulation? The first step is forgiveness of personal sins through the atoning sacrifice and blood of Jesus Christ.

2. The second step in preparedness is to separate ourselves from the world's wicked system. Jesus' words in Rev 18:4 ring out loud and true, "Come out from her, my people, so that you may not share in her sins, neither participate in her plagues." Many Christians today are tolerating sin in their lives because to eliminate it may require getting out of the evil system which is creating the opportunity to sin. Perhaps you are working in a job which requires you to buy or handle merchandise which you know is sinful; perhaps your employers require you to act unethically in order to work for them, i.e., consistently lying.

Perhaps you are knowingly involved in a sinful situation, such as adultery.

NOW is the time to come out of this wickedness, purifying yourselves through the blood of Jesus' sacrifice and beginning to live in obedience to His commandments.

3. Many Christians are knowingly participating in churches which are departing from true Biblical doctrine, trying to stay "positive" about all the "good" things which that church is doing. Remember Paul's words in 1 Cor 5:6, "Do you not know that just a little leaven (false doctrine) will ferment the whole lump of dough? Purge the old leaven that you may be fresh new dough, still unleavened for Christ..."

A small amount of false doctrine, or abandoning true doctrine, can ruin a church. Now is the time for all true Christians to stand forthrightly for the Truth of Jesus Christ.

4. Knowing Scripture is critical. You now need to begin daily Bible reading and memorization. At some point as we move into the New World Order, Christians will be seized and Bibles confiscated. The only Scripture at this point will be what has been memorize.

5. Daily prayer is now a necessity. Create a Prayer List so you can pray for all those people and things in your life which need to be carried before the Lord. Great things can be accomplished through humble prayer.