Articles
Word Of The Week: Antichrist
The term “Antichrist” garnered much attention years ago with the release of Satanic movies such as "The Omen." Other pop-culture references along with various religious doctrines have created expectations among many that such a person will arise in the future.
“The Antichrist,” according to this teaching, is someone who will resemble Christ but who will be a deceiver. He will be controlled by Satan and will lead many astray. He is often identified with the “mark of the beast,” the number 666 in the book of Revelation, and the “man of sin” in II Thessalonians 2.
However, the apostle John’s reference to “antichrist” is clear: He does not speak of a particular person to come in the distant future (from the time of his writing) but a force or principle that was already at work in his day. “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. ... Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world” (I John 2:18; 4:3).
We must always make the effort to distinguish between fact and fiction when Bible terms are used.
