by Harley Todd

GUEST COLUMNIST

The "Battle of Armageddon," the number "666" and the "antichrist" send a chill up the spine by the very mention of the words. For many, these words conjure up a dramatic image of some end of the world with images that include fire, mass destruction, and the devil himself taking political control of the world. Speculations about who the antichrist is have included about every U.S. president and any "evil" world leader. I remember a speculation that the antichrist would be a demon-possessed super-human that was a genetically engineered clone. Recent favorites include Saddam Hussein of the Gulf War. I know of several individuals who believed the Gulf War was the beginning of the end of the world. In fact, many were absolutely terrified by the Gulf War, fearing what the outcome would be. TV evangelists love to talk about the antichrist, but in the end it is all nothing more than idle speculation designed more to keep a TV audience sending in their donations.

Now don't get me wrong, the word antichrist is found in the Bible. But that is where the Bible parts ways with modern speculationists. The rhetoric regarding the antichrist is so loud, that the average person has been misled to believe that the book of Revelation talks about nothing else but the antichrist. In fact, the word antichrist is not found even once in the book of Revelation. That in itself should send warning bells off. In fact, the word antichrist is only found in four passages, and all were penned by Apostle John within the books of first and second John.

So exactly what does the Bible have to say about the antichrist? Here is an exhaustive study on the word. I, personally, have such a high regard for the Bible, that by reading the scriptures for yourself without my comment is all you need to have a clear understanding of the antichrist.

The four Bible passages:

1 John 2:18-19: "Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us."

1 John 2:22-23: "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also."

1 John 4:2-3: "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 is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world."

2 John 1:7: "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist."

From the Bible we can clearly see three things. First, the antichrist is defined as anyone who doesn't believe Jesus is the divine son of God. Second, antichrists appear to actively teach against Christ. Third, there were many antichrists in the world when John wrote the book. This directly contradicts the teaching of modern speculationists who say that one antichrist will arise at some still future time.

The Greek word from which our English word antichrist is translated is very simple to understand. It is a simple compound word and means anti + Christ = antichrist. We use the same compound word every day and there really is no big mystery as to what the word means. Antichrist is anyone who opposes Christ.

Take this test to see if you are an antichrist. Do you actively teach or simply believe that Jesus Christ never walked the earth, but was a mythological figure? Do you actively teach or simply believe there was a man named Jesus Christ, but he did not actually raise from the dead? Do you actively speak out against or simply believe Christianity is a false religion? Do you teach there is more than one God? Do you actively speak against the Bible? Jesus said, "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters" (Matthew 12:30). The Bible term antichrist could be simply understood to be equivalent to being a non-believer.

The antichrist then, has no horns or red glowing eyes. Neither is the antichrist some demon possessed super-intelligent human clone. Rather, the antichrist is the person who openly teaches that Jesus was just a myth. The Good News is Jesus is real and he is coming again.

Harley Todd is pastor of Tooele Church of Christ at 430 W. Utah Ave. in Tooele; Worship services are 10 a.m., 11 a.m. or 6 p.m. on Sundays; Wednesdays at 7 p.m. For more information call 882-4642.