Antichrist

In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist has come to mean a person or other entity that is the embodiment of evil and utterly opposed to truth.

Identity of the Antichrist

Many people, or even nations or movements, have been thought by some to be the Antichrist.

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Paul of Tarsus has been theorized by some (among them Thomas Jefferson, Albert Schweitzer, George Bernard Shaw, Carl Sagan and Carl Jung) to have fulfilled the role of the Antichrist within the chronicles of the New Testament of the Bible itself. This theory is premised on an idea that the original teachings of Christ, such as nonviolence, nonresistance and vegetarianism, were subverted by Paul.

Related Topics:
Paul of Tarsus - Thomas Jefferson - Albert Schweitzer - George Bernard Shaw - Carl Sagan - Carl Jung - Nonviolence - Nonresistance - Vegetarianism

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The Roman emperor beginning with Nero, sometimes together with the four emperors who succeeded him in the year following his suicide, until the elevation of Nero's general Vespasian to emperor, have been interpreted from very early times, either alone or collectively as the Beast of the Apocalypse.

Related Topics:
Nero - Vespasian

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In this tumultuous period, superstitious fear and mob violence grew against Christians, and the Roman wars against the Jews intensified (AD 66–70), ending with the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 under the command of general Titus (later emperor), and the maniacal slaughter of the Jews who were living at Jerusalem. According to tradition, Nero ordered the crucifixion of St. Peter and the beheading of Saint Paul. Both Jewish and Christian literature survives, referring to Emperor Nero as the Antichrist. A more detailed description of this interpretation can be found in the entry on the Book of Revelation.

Related Topics:
66 - 70 - Titus - Nero - St. Peter - Saint Paul - Book of Revelation

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After the reforms of Patriarch Nikon to the Russian Orthodox Church of 1652 a large number of Old Believers held that czar Peter the Great was the Antichrist, because of his treatment of the Orthodox Church, namely seperating church from state, requiring clergyman to conform to the standards of all Russian civilians (shaved beards, being fluent in French), and requiring them to pay state taxes. In 1916 (?), a woman believing the faith healer Rasputin was the Antichrist, for his supposedly evil influences over the czar and czarina, stabbed him, cutting a large wound in his chest. He fully recovered.

Related Topics:
Patriarch Nikon - Russian Orthodox Church - 1652 - Old Believers - Peter the Great - Rasputin

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Another idea that began appearing early in the history of the Christian church, is the opinion that the Antichrist will be an apostate priest or Christian secular ruler, perhaps a Pope or other high leader of the Christian church, or a pretender to the Papacy. Some Christian sects have made it an issue of faith to identify the Bishop of Rome and the papal system as the Antichrist, which was included in e.g. the Westminster Confession. Virtually all popes have been called the Antichrist by their enemies, and many popes have applied this title of "Antichrist", "son of perdition", or "man of sin", to their enemies as well.

Related Topics:
Pope - Westminster Confession

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St. Bellarmine gives in full the theory set forth by the Greek and Latin Fathers, of a personal Antichrist to come just before the end of the world and to be accepted by the Jews and enthroned in the temple at Jerusalem—thus endeavoring to dispose of the Protestant exposition which saw Antichrist in the pope. Bellarmine's interpretation, in modified form, is now accepted by most premillennial dispensationalists.

Related Topics:
St. Bellarmine - Jew - Jerusalem - Dispensationalists

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Some Christians claimed the Antichrist was Muhammad, founder of Islam, because they consider him a false prophet who placed himself above Jesus, and whose religion conquered Jerusalem and forcibly converted Christians, Jews, and others.

Related Topics:
Muhammad - Islam - Prophet

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Identifying the Antichrist has returned as a task in the Internet age, and has created a body of literature in its own right.

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Since the Bible indicates that the anitchrist beast may be identified by a number, "the number of the beast" which "is the number of a man" (Revelation 13:18). Various numerological methods of calculating the number of the name of the Beast ("666" in most manuscript sources, "616" in a minority), and other methods are used to identify the Antichrist before he has the chance to lead astray. The oldest historical example is in Latin where each letter has an equivalent numerical value. Also "VV IL DVCE" ("Long Live Il Duce", a phrase chanted for Mussolini).

Related Topics:
The number of the beast - Numerological - 666 - 616 - Mussolini

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In English, another nice example is the case of Adolf Hitler, where numbering the letters A=100, B=101, etc, produces H+I+T+L+E+R=666. Another numerological candidate is Henry Kissinger. Example A=6, B=12, C=18, etc, produces K+I+S+S+I+N+G+E+R=666.

Related Topics:
Adolf Hitler - Henry Kissinger

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In "ASCII", (American Standard Code for Information Interchange), Bill Gates' name is also identified with the number of the beast. Each letter in the ASCII alphabet also represents a number, and coincidentally, if you add up the letters in his real name (Bill Gates the III, or in this case, Bill Gates III), the total is 666.

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Candidates for the Antichrist have been men in virtually all positions of public influence, the most frequent modern candidates: Charles Prince of Waleshttp://www.lionlamb.net/Yavoh/archive/print/Nov2001PN.htm, Napoleon Bonaparte, Sam Walton, Bill Gates, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, John Lennon, Nelson Mandela, various Popes or the Roman Catholic Church, the World Council of Churches, the European Union and recent Presidents of the United States. Some have taken Since the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, theories about Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, or George W. Bush being the Antichrist have been put forward. In addition, apocalyptic Christians such as Herb Peters and Constance E. Cumbey point to Javier Solana.

Related Topics:
Prince of Wales - Napoleon Bonaparte - Sam Walton - Bill Gates - Adolf Hitler - Joseph Stalin - John Lennon - Nelson Mandela - Pope - Roman Catholic Church - World Council of Churches - European Union - Presidents of the United States - September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack - Osama bin Laden - Saddam Hussein - George W. Bush - Constance E. Cumbey - Javier Solana

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Claims about world leaders echo the plot of the Left Behind series of novels (by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins) that the Antichrist may be the Secretary-General of the United Nations. LaHaye and Thomas Ice publish a newsletter that speculates about these matters, and they have also suggested that the rise of militant Islam in the 21st Century is a possible sign of the End Times, as being the false religion of the Antichrist and his partner, the False Prophet.

Related Topics:
Left Behind - Tim LaHaye - Jerry B. Jenkins - Secretary-General of the United Nations - False Prophet

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The pro-Falun Gong newspaper The Epoch Times has claimed the Beast to be the Chinese Communist Party.

Related Topics:
Falun Gong - The Epoch Times - Chinese Communist Party

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In addition certain occultists and Satanists have proclaimed themselves to be the Antichrist, including Aleister Crowley and John Whiteside Parsons.

Related Topics:
Aleister Crowley - John Whiteside Parsons

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