The Antichrist

Throughout church history, certain Christians have been looking to identify the Antichrist in their lifetime.  They remained so convinced that Christ's return has to come in their lifetime, so the Antichrist has to be among them.  The thinking would go, the world is so terrible, the end must be soon.

To that end, a list of the proposed Antichrist candidates have included Yassar Arafat, the “Beast” super computer of the European Union, Jimmy Carter, Bill Gates, Mikhail Gorbachev, John F. Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, Benito Mussolini, Nero, Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, Pat Robertson, David Rockefeller, Anwar Sadat, Saddam Hussein, Willy Brandt, Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, and perhaps, most recently here in America, Barack Obama.

For eight years, we heard of how awful Barack Obama was.  That he was the Antichrist out to take away all Christian freedoms.  The fear of the things he would do.  Particular attention was paid to the near religious fervor that his political rallies had.  The "church" seeing how "those darn atheists" could be deluded by the Antichrist.

And then, nothing really happened.  He was so evil, but now, not so much.  We can still complain about him, but he's not the Antichrist.  We move on.

And that got me to thinking, are we truly going to recognize the Antichrist when he comes?

Benjamin Corey apparently has been wondering the same thing.  In his article on Formerly Fundie he works through the biblical prophecies regarding the Antichrist and points to how they can reach a startling conclusion - our current President Trump.

There's a definite thread here.  Look at the way President Trump has been able to delude parts of the church.  To persuade them into following and supporting him.  

Look at the prophecies:

• The Antichrist will be the leader of a nation that is a military superpower with the ability to trample and crush the entire earth.  - Daniel 7:23
• The Antichrist will be a man who is exceptionally arrogant and will be known for giving boastful speeches. - Daniel 7:8; Revelation 13:5
• The Antichrist will be someone known for making a lot of public threats against people. - Revelation 13:2, Daniel 7:4
• The Antichrist will come from among 7 tall “hills” that each act as a “head.” - Revelation 13:1, Ch. 17 
• The Antichrist will cause people all over the globe to be filled with wonder and “follow” him. - Revelation 13:3
• The Antichrist will be a political outsider with despicable character and a contemptuous personality who wins an election that no one expects him to win. - Daniel 11:21
• The Antichrist will give speeches where he speaks “great things” and then about things that are even “greater.” - Daniel 7:20
• The Antichrist comes to power through collusion with a secret alliance who uses disinformation to help him win - even though he has a minority number of supporters. - Daniel 11:23
• The Antichrist’s rise to power will seem like a miracle that God performed, tricking people into following Satan instead of God without even noticing. - 2 Thessalonians 2:9
• As president, the Antichrist will immediately find ways to make himself and his friends richer - and he will do it in a way that no president had ever done before. - Daniel 11:24
• Once in power the Antichrist will reveal that his heart wants to make alterations to the “appointed times” that are in current laws. - Daniel 7:25
• The Antichrist will make fake news popular and will be a chronic liar.  His followers will believe his delusions because they hate the truth. - Daniel 8:25, 2 Thessalonians 2:10
• The Antichrist will reward those who are completely loyal with powerful positions and lucrative real estate deals. - Daniel 11:39b
• The Bible says that we’ll be able to spot the Antichrist because he will give an arrogant public speech in the middle of his first term where he boasts of “great things” but also uses God’s name as a curse in the same speech. - Revelation 13:5-6
• The Antichrist will draw strong support from many Christians as if they are willfully blind and outright delusional. - Matthew 24:24, 2nd Thessalonians 2:10
• The Antichrist will spend his first term in office having an ongoing feud with the leadership of the nation on his southern border. - Daniel 11:25
• The Antichrist will be so angry at the king to his south that he will decide to intentionally inflict harm on that ethnic group in retaliation. - Daniel 11:28, Zechariah 11:16-17
• The Antichrist will be furious over “rumors and reports” that come from the east and north, and will fly into fits of rage as the reports surface. - Daniel 11:44
• The Antichrist will appear to receive a wound he can’t recover from, but will survive to put down the first attempts to remove him from office. - Revelation 13:3
• The Antichrist will have the nation’s most powerful religious leader influencing the country for him.  This leader will try to convince Christians that the Antichrist is “God’s pick” and that we need to support him. - Revelation 13:11-12
• The Antichrist will see himself as being above everyone else, as if he had no need for God.  He will eventually elevated himself as the God and King of Israel. - 2nd Thessalonians 2:4, Revelation 17
• The Antichrist will worship the god of board walls.  - Daniel 11:37-38
• The Antichrist’s most devoted followers will wear a sign of their allegiance to him on their foreheads. - Revelation 13
• But the people who truly know God and remain faithful, will firmly “resist” him. - Daniel 11:32

With Corey's analysis, there is a definite through line that can be drawn from each of these prophecies to President Trump.  It's fairly convincing and somewhat disconcerting.

You should read the article and see how each of these fall into place.  There are facts in there that 

But ultimately, do I think Trump is the Antichrist?

No.

For one, too many people dislike him.

In reality, the prophecies are like Rorschach tests - we see in them what we want to find.  Corey is able to pull some connections together, but there are some real stretches in there as well.

What we should do is remember that the Antichrist will come to deceive us all.  That he will be able to persuade and to draw to him many that would be considered faithful.  That he's not coming in opposition to the church, at least not initially.  

We should learn from the reasons why we have identified people as the Antichrist in the past.  That they may lead political rallies that look like Billy Graham Crusades.  And that they will be able to seduce men and women of the church with political power, putting aside character and morality for position.

Perhaps then, we can recognize him and resist him when he actually arrives.