Many Antichrists vs. "The Antichrist"

Many things need to be sorted out in order to understand the concept of “The Antichrist” properly in its entire Biblical context. First of all, the only place where the term “antichrist” is used in the Bible is in 1 & 2 John, mainly a general term for all people who oppose Jesus the Messiah with an antichrist spirit that was already present in New Testament times. Nevertheless, many Pretribulationists have applied this term to a specific world-dominating leader during an alleged future seven-year “Great Tribulation,” giving it a limited personalized interpretation. Below are those verses taken from the Epistles of John.[1]

“Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour” (1 Jn. 2:18).

“Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son” (1 Jn. 2:22).

“…and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already” (1 Jn. 4:3)

“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 Jn. 1:7).

Evidently, the Apostle John believed that he was living during the “last hour” because he understood that the antichrist was already in the world. He said that there would be many “deceivers” and “antichrists” denying that Jesus is the Son of the living God and the true Messiah. Certainly, the Roman rulers of those days seemed to fit the bill, including many Jews who persecuted the early Christians, such as Saul of Tarsus before his conversion. John, in his later life, might have witnessed the Temple’s horrible destruction and the death of his own Jewish people and fellow Christians at the hands of the Romans. But was this “The Antichrist” of the end times? I believe that John’s “last hour” actually refers to a great extension of time that has lasted almost two millennia up to our present days.

On the other hand, the Apostle Paul made an implied inference to the Antichrist by the term “the man of lawlessness” (2 Thess. 2:3, 8, 9) and “son of destruction” (2 Thess. 2:3), who will only be revealed following “the rebellion” and after “what is restraining him” is taken “out of the way” (2 Thess. 2:3, 7). Daniel 9:27 uses the term “desolator,” which is also commonly interpreted as the Antichrist, plus the term “Beast,” used similarly in the books of Daniel and Revelation. Clearly, Satan’s “spirit of the antichrist” or “mystery of lawlessness” has been “already at work” since Paul’s and John’s time (2 Thess. 2:3).

Jesus Himself warned of many false christs and false prophets that would arise to lead the elect astray, if possible. They may perform great signs and wonders while claiming that they are the true Messiah, but if anyone says to us, “Look, here is the Christ!” or “There he is!” we should not believe it, since it will not really be Him (Matt. 24:5, 23-24). Satan has produced many false religions, and there have been many alleged “messiahs” as well as “antichrists” down through history. Even though we may be able to identify the spirit of the Antichrist in many religions and governments, I believe that it is most clearly embodied in the socio-religious system established by Muhammad and Islam’s false teachings about Allah and his Mahdi (a counterfeit Muslim messiah) ever since the 7^th century.[2]

Even though many claim that Islam is one of the three Abrahamic faiths and that it is a religion of peace, it contradicts everything that the Bible says about Abraham’s faith in the One True God and the later New Covenant that God made with His true believers. Muhammad taught that every Muslim should hate all other faiths, especially Judaism and Christianity. Their own imams say that anything else is blasphemous, because the Koran 60:4 says, “We renounce you: enmity and hate shall reign between us until you believe in Allah alone.”[3] They also have an evident antichristian perspective of Jesus, alleging that when Islam’s Isa (their version of “Jesus”) returns, he will smash all crosses because he will vehemently deny the Christian concept of death and resurrection. He will then force everyone to become a Muslim or be killed. Allegedly, Isa will die as a martyr for the Muslim faith, but will receive the reward of a heavenly brothel of 72 dark-eyed virgins, as do all other faithful Muslim men.[4] This is their warped perspective of Paradise, and represents the ultimate sacrilege of the true Jesus, who is the Holy King of kings and Lord of lords!

The books of Daniel and Revelation warn us about this through their several “beasts” and “horns.” These Beasts were and are imbued with the spirit of the Antichrist, but only two specifically symbolize Islam’s socio-religious system and its goal of eradicating and superseding God’s truth. I understand that one of these beasts has already made its mark in history, the “Beast from the Sea,” killing countless millions of Jews and Christians. For centuries they have suffered greatly at the hand of this first Beast, and he will appear again as the “Beast from the Earth” “until the time of the end” (Daniel 11:33-35). But God’s people, Jew or Christian, will NOT be on earth to experience his tyrannical hand and God’s subsequent Bowls of Wrath and judgment, as described in Revelation 15-18.

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[1] All Bible verses quoted in this book come from the English Standard Version, unless stated otherwise.

[2] As emphasized in the Preface, I am not stating that all Muslims are evil, nor that they should be rejected or persecuted for their honest and misplaced faith, but that the socio-political and religious system of Islam has been founded by Satan himself (Rev. 11:7), fulfilling all past and future eschatological references to the Antichrist and the Man of Lawlessness. This is not Islamophobia, but true objectivity of what Islam has always clearly expressed itself to be and exemplified down through history, and always will.

[3] Raymond Ibrahim, https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2022/12/13/talk-of-abrahamic-religions-is-an-ecumenical-farce/, accessed Dec. 14, 2022.

[4] Ibrahim, https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2023/01/09/how-jesus-became-isa-a-terrorist-with-a-heavenly-harem/, accessed Jan. 9, 2023.