Characteristics of the Antichrist
He will do what Napoleon and Hitler both tried to do but failed. Men have feared this coming "Man of Sin", the "Antichrist" since the time of the Romans and even hundreds of years earlier. Why has this coming Antichrist been so feared? Just what is it about this coming man that strikes terror in so many people?
One day, the Antichrist, (Anti-Christ), will come on the scene, as prophesied by the Bible in the Book of Revelation, the Book of Daniel, and other books in the Bible. Many people in the past have claimed that "this man" or "that man" was the Antichrist. Such conjectures have come and gone throughout the history of the Church. Nevertheless, such supposed men, such as Adolph Hitler, have always died without their actually having become the Antichrist. Recently others have suggested that President Barack Hussein Obama is the Antichrist.
But just who exactly will this Antichrist be? It will not be possible to know for certain the identity of this Antichrist until he does one particularly wicked act, which will then reveal that he is this prophesied Antichrist. This act will be when the Antichrist enters into the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem and then pollutes it:
"And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." (Daniel 9:27)
"And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate." (Daniel 11:31)
Jesus himself mentioned this prophesy by the Prophet Daniel, which Jesus referred to as "the abomination of desolation". Jesus then declared that this act would become the start of a period of time known as "The Great Tribulation":
"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." (Matthew 24:15-22)
The Great Tribulation will be proceeded by a period of time characterized by great spiritual deception and a falling away from the truth, a time referred to as the "Great Apostasy". During this "Great Apostasy", (which has already started), the various religious leaders of the world will start to dialogue with each other and link up together into a great Ecumenical Movement, as they join together with the Roman Catholic Church, also called the "Great Whore" in Revelation 17:1.
The Roman Catholic Church and the Antichrist will then start murdering all true Christians by beheading, much the same way as Muslims who believe the Koran often murder Christians, Jews, and others. (Koran: "Strike off their heads till ye have made a great slaughter among them" - Sura 47:4). The Bible says:
"So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth." (Revelation 17: 3-9)
Although many Bapticatholics, New Evangelicals, and others are now unashamed to link up with the Roman Catholic Church, in that day they will have their heads chopped off by the Antichrist and by his Great Roman Catholic Whore. By that time though, many will have already died or been "raptured". Most of those who are "Left Behind" after The Rapture will then take "The Mark of the Beast" on their right hand or forehead and will therefore be given over by God for judgment and damnation in the Lake of Fire.
A Matter Of Faith In Evil Demonic Power
The Antichrist is just that, an "Anti"-"Christ". He will be characterized by his exaltation of himself above everything that is called God. (He will be very much "into himself", or self-absorbed. It will be "all about him".) Because of his extreme egotism and wicked pride, the Antichrist will not tolerate anyone disagreeing with his views. He will therefore have no tolerance for true Fundamentalist Baptists or other Christians who put Jesus and the Bible first. He will also be what is sometimes called a "control freak", attempting to control everyone in the whole world. An example of this, the Antichrist will forbid people from buying or selling anything without first getting his permission by taking "his mark" on their right hand or forehead.
Nevertheless, the Antichrist when he comes on the scene will not look like a bad man. In fact, he will probably be very likable, and will smile and be very clean cut and sharp. Many will place their hope in this man, that he will be able to change the world for good. The Antichrist will also be a great orator, and "...he shall speak great words..." (Daniel 7:25) He will deceive millions of people with his rhetoric for change and peace. This hope for peaceful change though will be short-lived, because the Antichrist will soon show his true colors, as a man " ... of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences." (Daniel 8:23) The Antichrist will come on a white horse of change for hope and peace but will soon take peace away with his red horse of war. This change will bring about slaughter and death for countless millions.
Those who remain faithful to Christ and the Bible will be viciously persecuted by this "Beast" called the Antichrist. In his jealous anger, the Antichrist will attempt to persecute and murder all true Christians. All true Christians of course will refuse the commands of the Antichrist (and his assistant) to commit sin.
The Antichrist will then slander these good Christians, force them out of their churches and homes, and then kill them if he can. All those who refuse to obey the Antichrist's command to sin will therefore become martyrs for Christ. The Antichrist, by the way, will also one day do the same to all Jewish families as well.
As was once the case with Nebuchadnezzar, the king of ancient Babylon, the Antichrist will desire all worship, applause, and adoration of men and women, teenagers, and children be directed at himself, (as if he were "God"). In his extreme vanity and wicked self-exaltation, he will set up an "Image of the Beast", (an image of himself), in the Temple in Jerusalem, so that the whole world will be able to worship, applaud, and adore "The Great Antichrist". His desire that people commit the wicked sin of idolatry by worshipping himself more than God is also a characteristic of Satan as well. The Antichrist will glorify Satan, requiring this blasphemous, idolatrous worship of himself.
The Antichrist will work closely with his "assistant". This assistant will be a rather amazing man. This "superman" of a "Second Beast" will perform great wonders. This "False Prophet" will do whatever the Antichrist tells him to do and will cause everyone to obey the "First Beast", who is the Antichrist. As with the Antichrist, this False Prophet will care nothing about the truth. (They will both think it acceptable to try to deceive people. After all, such deception will be "justified" in their eyes because it will have the end result of protecting and exalting the Antichrist.)
This two-man team will work very hard at deceiving the gullible and at "spinning" the truth, by calling good evil and evil good. The False Prophet will probably be an extremely intelligent man, having received great power and wisdom from Satan himself. He will use his power to perform "miracles" and his wisdom to deceive the hearts of the simple, so as to get the whole world to worship, applaud, and adore the Antichrist.
As already mentioned, the Antichrist will also get a great deal of help from his Great Whore, The Roman Catholic Church. The Antichrist will make sure that his Whore gets lots of money, (the thing that motivates a whore). This Great Roman Catholic Whore will then perform those wicked acts that he has paid her to perform, such as the act of beheading all true Christians.
Nevertheless, when the Antichrist has finished "using" his Whore, he will get rid of her in a quick and violent manner. In "one hour" her destruction will come. God will thus allow the Antichrist himself to bring judgment upon Roman Catholicism which has slaughtered so many good Christians over the years for refusing demands that they "repent" from their faithfulness to Jesus Christ and the Bible.
But who is the Antichrist? We know that his number will be "666". Many have speculated that this number "666" might mean that the Antichrist's first, middle, and last name might each have six letters to them. Or course, there have been many men who have had six letters to their first, middle, and last names, but were not the Antichrist. Others have said that the Antichrist's "666" number only means that he will be a man, since "6" is the number of man.
Nevertheless, we will know who the Antichrist is when he enters into the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. This Temple in Jerusalem has not yet been rebuilt, and so such an act must therefore come some time in the future. There are billions of people living in the world today. Is the Antichrist one of them? We just cannot know who the Antichrist is for sure at this time.
Nevertheless, the Antichrist will only reign over the world for a few short years. Jesus Christ will then come back to Earth, destroy the Antichrist, and then reign over the Earth Himself for a thousand years. After this time, the current Heavens and Earth will be destroyed. God will then create new Heavens and a new Earth, and time as we know it will be no more, since we will then be living in Eternity.
[How to Prepare for the End Times and for the Antichrist]
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