Antichrist: Person, Ideology or Both?

 

 

Who or what I ask,

Is it one or the other?

Who or what I ask again,

Why should this be a bother?

 

In these times that we live in

Some believe he is near,

And given the signs around

Antichrist must soon appear.

 

There are a number of views

Pertaining to his ID

And many were given his designation

At different points of history.

 

Adolf Hitler was one of these

So was Mussolini,

Kissinger and Obama in the mix

And Trump of most recency.

 

The Pope is also advanced

Because of his perceived power,

Bill Gates has had a mention

Changes are rung in by the hour.

 

 

The error that we make

Is by not consulting God’s Word,

The information is given there

And now to that I refer.

 

Four passages are given therein,

All are found in the epistles of John,

Search the Bible throughout

And you won’t find another one.

 

The first is at 1^st John 2:18

Then, there were many antichrists,

Something important was drawing near

And not all of it was going to be nice.

 

The second gives us the definition

Locate it at 1^st John 2:22,

Go there and note what it says

And let this shape your view.

 

 

Anyone that denies Jesus is the Christ,

The same is a liar

And he that denies the Father and the Son,

The same is antichrist.

 

In the Apostle John’s time

The spirit of antichrist already existed,

Such denied the humanity of Jesus

And his message stoutly resisted.

 

1^st John 4:3 substantiates this:

That antichrist is a spirit-

The non-confession of Christ in the flesh

Is its declared edict.

 

The fourth and final instance

Is at 2^nd John chapter 1 verse 7:

Who confesses not Jesus is come in the flesh

Is a deceiver and antichrist.

 

Who confesses not “Jesus is come in the flesh,”

Located at 2^nd John and verse 7,

The same is a deceiver and antichrist-

Go there and see what is written.

 

 

Antichrist is defined as any person

Or any spirit or any ideology

That does not believe in Christ

Regarding his divinity and humanity.

 

The Scribes and Pharisees

Were the premiere antichrists,

Coupled with the Gnostics and Priests:

These constantly opposed the Christ.

 

It is therefore clear to me

According to the letters of John

That the obsessive adherence to Judaism

Was where these leaders had gone.

 

Thus, when the people turned away

They were particularly angered

And used the Roman authorities

To crucified the Christ.

 

 

“We have no king but Caesar!"

"Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

So that in opposition to the early church

Antichrists was the premiere problem.

 

They colluded with the Romans

And eventually suffered at their hands,

In their antichrist posturing

They tried to negate God’s plan.

 

The plan of salvation first to the Jews

And then to all the other nations,

The thriving ecclesia we call the church

Carrying out the great commission.

 

Both the Jews and the Gentiles

Working side by side

In the God-given mission of evangelizing

As the Spirit transforms the defiled.

 

 

So, in all eras ever since Pentecost

Antichrists have always existed,

No less prominent in this our time

Than when they first resisted.

 

Don’t look for antichrists in names

Like prominent leaders in the Nations,

But look for antichrists in ideologies

Even in our religious congregations.

 

Stewart Russell © June 2020