7 Signs of the Antichrist: These Things Herald the Rise of the Beast
There are more than one hundred passages in Scripture that describe the antichrist.
There are less than fifty about Adam. Again and again, God gives explicit details about who this man of mystery is—without, of course, identifying him by name. His characteristics, his intention, and his agenda are obvious, but much of the Church, like an ostrich, sticks its head in the sand and tries to ignore the eventuality of his appearing. I don’t say this to scare you, but to prepare you. I don’t want to make you anxious, but I want to make you aware. We must watch and pray. Being prepared, being aware, watching and praying will bring us the peace and hope that God has for us individually and for the Church as a whole. John, from his first letter, says it this way:
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world (1 John 4:1-3 KJV).
The Church has often assumed that the he John is referring to is the devil, but that is not entirely correct. The he John has in mind is the spirit of antichrist. Understand that there is a man who is coming who will be possessed by the devil, a master of the occult—indeed, of all the satanic arts. He may be an atheist, an agnostic, or what is more likely, he may act as though he is a deeply religious person. (He undoubtedly will be, but not in the manner that most people think of religion.)
He will be quick to pervert everything that comes under his influence.
He will be involved in every sin imaginable while acting like a model citizen.
He will deceive many.
That man is coming, but before he appears, John tells us very plainly that the antichrist spirit “is already in the world.” John also gives us some specific markers by which we can identify that spirit.
It will deny that Jesus came in the flesh by means of the virgin birth.
It will deny the relationship between Jesus and the Father.
It will deny the reality of the Trinity.
It will deny that Jesus is God.
You may be wondering how people can give any measure of credibility to a person who pretends to be religious yet who denies what seem to be obvious truths about God. How is it possible that he wins the unstinting allegiance of multitudes when what he is advocating is so blatantly false?
One reason is that so many, even among those who claim to be believers, are unfamiliar with basic Bible doctrines. They are strangers to the Bible themselves, and can we blame them? They never heard the truths of the Word of God from the pulpit either because the preacher was preoccupied with more important issues or he was terrified to touch on it himself.
People are becoming numb to Gospel Truth. They have heard so many diverging arguments regarding God or the Bible on social media that they essentially have stopped listening. When someone comes along and presents them with a candy-coated gospel while offering to drink a beer or smoke weed with them, they are ready to get on board regardless of what the leader is saying, and no matter how outrageous it may seem.
Another reason for the success of the antichrist’s advent is his skillful and selective use of propaganda as a tool of persuasion. Do you think social media outlets have become adept at manipulating data to promote certain narratives and discredit others? Wait until the antichrist harnesses the power of advanced AI capabilities to control what you hear. He will make all past and current efforts at media manipulation look like child’s play.
The Herald of the Antichrist’s Coming
Perhaps the greatest factor that leads to the antichrist’s acceptance is the spirit of antichrist that is preparing the way for him. John the Baptist was the herald of Christ’s coming. The antichrist will also have a clever and capable master of information manipulation who will twist his lies into a semblance of the truth. This character is identified as the false prophet in Revelation 19:20. He will make Joseph Goebbels, Valenti Beria, and Mao’s misinformation minions look like rank amateurs in comparison. The worldview he will sell people is social- ism. It will not be a difficult task for many, since they have already succumbed to the siren song of socialist doctrine. They will need little persuasion since what the antichrist will offer them is something they have already bought into. They don’t realize that it is a deal with the devil, and their part of the wager is their eternal soul.
Please don’t think that I am saying that because socialism will be a major factor in preparing the way for the antichrist’s advent that capitalism is the only economic system that is of God. God’s ways are not man’s ways. What God has in mind for the earth is neither capitalism nor socialism, but an economic system designed by the One who created it and ultimately owns it all.
What I am saying is that socialism has a fundamental flaw that makes it unworkable when it comes to equal outcomes for human beings. It is this: a foundational premise of socialism is that man is essentially good. The only things that are blocking man’s continuing quest for perfection are inequities in the human condition caused by the lust for money and power. All men need to do to experience perfection is to give all their money and power to the state, so that the state can distribute resources equitably to all.
When anyone has the temerity to remind the current crop of socialists that their preferred worldview has a terrible track record of mayhem, disaster, and blood, they are undaunted in their quest for utopia. They claim that the benighted despots of the past did not have the advantages available to us in the 21st century. Now, they say, we can do socialism the way it is supposed to be done, and success will be inevitable. In the meantime, if a few million people die, that is a small price to pay for saving the planet. They maintain that there are too many useless eaters anyway. This is the current position of the World Economic Forum and its false prophet, Yuval Noah Harari. They are maneuvering to take hold of the levers of power, and America’s leaders seem to be falling in line.
I understand that there is more to socialist doctrine than this, but I am emphasizing the aspect of socialism that requires men to believe that they are basically good and capable of perfection as a result of their own effort. This is a lie that is conclusively refuted by the testimony of human history, the clear record of the Bible, and the perfect plan of redemption.
This idea of men achieving perfection by submission to the all-powerful, benevolent state qualifies socialism to be a main tenet of the antichrist’s doctrine, since he will seek to control the apparatus of power, and he will eventually become the personification of the state. If people are already conditioned to submit to the state, that will make his job much easier, since less persuasion or coercion will be required for them to give their allegiance to him.
Socialist doctrines and dogma are advancing all around us. It seems that every day’s headlines bring us another outrageous proposal or policy that would have been laughed to scorn or mercilessly mocked a generation or even a decade ago. Now they seem to be standard operating procedure in many places. This is not a right or left issue or a matter of adherence to a political party. The conflict goes much deeper than that. It involves an ongoing and intensifying battle for the souls of men.
The antichrist spirit is better known for what it denies than for what it advocates. As I mentioned earlier, this spirit will deny the virgin birth, which we must believe to be saved. It denies the relationship between the Father and Jesus, as well as the person of the Holy Spirit, attacking the Trinity as an unworkable concept, since it cannot be understood by the rational mind. It will deny that Jesus is God. The antichrist spirit may give Jesus credit for being a good man or a prophet, but it denies Him as the only substitute for the sin of man. The antichrist spirit loves religion but has a problem with Jesus Christ. Remember, this spirit wants to either remove Jesus or replace Jesus.
This is what Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians 15. He writes of fighting a wild beast at Ephesus. He was never thrown into an arena where he fought actual beasts. He was referring to the antichrist spirit. He said he fought the beast in Ephesus, and there he saw a mighty revival.
Today, you are fighting the beast in your daily life. You feel the pressure and the stress on your family, in your finances, in your relationships, and in your ability to witness your faith. In addition to all the natural circumstances that come against you, there is an antichrist spirit that opposes your efforts to succeed in fulfilling your God-given purpose.
Second Thessalonians was written by the great apostle Paul to the church of Thessalonica. The occasion of his letter to them was that he got word that they had received a letter as though it was written by him. Someone had forged a letter, signed it from Paul, and sent it to them. (Having an account hacked is not a recent phenomenon.) The letter told them, among other things, that they had missed the blessed hope and catching away of the saints. He wrote to reassure them and to remind them of what he had told them when he was personally present with them. The Book of 2 Thessalonians also contains an urgent emphasis on the last days, and it warned the Church to beware of those who had doctrines different from Paul’s on that subject. Here is one important passage:
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him. That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be trou- bled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:1-9 KJV).
The apostle Paul shows us that the antichrist is constantly trying to emerge on the world scene. However, there is a restraining force that is hindering the antichrist from being revealed and taking his place of power. That restraining force is the Holy Ghost-filled, fire-baptized Church of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God within you is a restraining force holding back the plague, holding back the pestilence, holding back the depression, holding back the divorce, holding back the complete collapse of the economy, and so much more. You are the restrainer through the power of the Holy Spirit. You are pushing back against the antichrist spirit—and no weapon formed against you will prosper.
The only antidote to the spirit of antichrist is the real Christ within you, who is the hope of glory. Through the Spirit of God, you are empowered to proclaim the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ everywhere you go. Your influence in your family, your home, your community, and your workplace are all impediments that make it impossible for the antichrist to enact his agenda as long as you are on the earth. You are still here, and that is why he is not here—yet.
You are the antichrist’s worst nightmare!
