In our pop culture and urban legion we image this idea of the evil demonic and demonic anti Christ here to destroy the world. It is the common image, even in big budget Hollywood movie such as the movie Constantine starring Keanu Reeves.
But what is the real Anti Christ, within the bible. The idea of the Anti Christ is spoken within the new testament gospel of John. What John refer to as Anti Christ is, anything that is not from Christianity, not subject to Christianity, independent from the Christianity or contradict Christianity, the gospel accuse of it for been false evil and demonic and then claim for it to be something that will destroy the world. Let's take a look at the original passages from the bible.
John 4:1~3 "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from god, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God and every spirit that does not confess Jesus in not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
John 1:7 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.
John 2:18 Children, it is the last hour and as you have heard that Anti Christ is coming, so now many Antichrist have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour
John 2:22 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
John 4:3 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.
Thus, what qualify as the Antichrist according to the bible? Other religion such as Hindu and Buddhism, institution such as public high school and public university, your high school biology teacher, democratic elected government, all of these things that is none Christian, the bible accuse it of been Antichrist, in fact, even other religion that worship Yahweh, according to the bible qualify as the Antichrist, for example, Judaism, which does not believe in Jesus.
In fact the bible have passages that goes out of the way to discourage education, democracy and authority that is independent from Christianity. For example,
Proverbs 3:5~6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight
Roman 13:1~7 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment.
Deuteronomy 17:12 The man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the LORD your God, nor to the judge that man shall die; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel
This kind of remind me of the cult of Mao, during the 1960s, under Communist rule China, which says Mao is always right, everything that contradict Mao is evil and you should always listen to Mao and children are literally made to prey to Mao at least three times per day!!!
It can be argue, the concept of the Antichrist is also an invention of people who intent to use religion to rule and secure their power, by saying everything that contradict Christianity is false evil and demonic, including education and authority that is not from Yahweh. By saying there should be no legit authority other then Yahweh and those appointed by Yahweh and saying those who don't listen to priests of Yahweh to be evil and must be kill, it help the priests to use religion to secure their power, as they are the priests of Christianity, by claiming to be the only legitimate authority on earth, as Yahweh's representative on earth and those who don't listen to them must be killed Under this sort of circumstances, claiming for education to be evil and you must not learn independent from Yahweh, allow the church to control people's thinking. In fact to say everything that is not Christian, not subject to Christianity, independent of Christianity or contradict Christianity to be evil, basically give the priests an excuse to control every aspect of people's life and execute everything that is a threat to their power. This was exactly what we see during the dark and middle ages, with the Inquisition conducted by the Catholic Church, where religion was used to help secure their power, not only did the Church turned their attack upon pagans, but also any other Christian church that emerged, claiming only the Catholic Church to be the legit representation of Christ on earth and its executing of educated that presented findings or theories that contradict the bible. The church also turned their attack upon the Jews and launched Crusades against the Muslims, in America they also executed religious figure of native american and conduct force baptists. In fact until the 17th century, the Catholic Church's power was unchallenged, it is during this era of dark and middle ages, we started seen the idea that the King must be crown by the church, despite for today it is merely a formality and tradition, during that era of human history, this carries a significant political meaning and thus, the idea of "King is god's given right", it can be argue, through religion the church control the Kings and thus through the Kings, the church control the people, and through such ability to control, the church use religion as an excuse to secure their power, so they are once again able to use religion to control the Kings, in fact it is known during the dark and middle ages, the Catholic church got the authority to sack any King that does not please them. The 16th century religion reform that began in Britain, is also only possible, after the British defeated the navy of Spain, which is under the control of the church and then declare their independence from the Catholic Church and then, form their own church and conduct religion reform.
Considering the circumstances, it is no wonder the Romans find the need to kill Christians.
So, the next time somebody tell you to fear the Antichrist, just ignore it. True, the Antichrist is all around us, just like the bible says but there is nothing about the Antichrist to be afraid of, instead, it is those ideals that demonized the Antichrist, that are more likely to become a threat
Thank you, for reading
Your Friend
Mr. 666
(I'm not going to hide it from you, but my birth sign, really is 666. I am born on the 6th of June 6:00AM :D )
