“The spirit of antichrist, lawlessness and perdition are all around us, yet we do not see or understand it because we think we are waiting on a mythical ‘Anti-Christ.’ And this is why things are so bad: because the Church is not doing what Christ told it to do.” J Bakanovic
Many of my Christian readers will probably have a difficult time with this post. Most Christians — and many non-believers, as well — have been taught that Bible prophecy foretells the coming of a single world leader known as the ‘Anti-Christ.’ This is not true! In fact, the opposite is true: Scripture specifically tells us not to look for such a figure. How this myth came to be is not important at the moment, but the result of the Church having embraced this lie is. Because the Church — the body of Christ — has accepted this myth, it has missed the spirit that Scripture does tell us will multiply and grow in strength as time comes to an end.
If you think about it, how could such a single world leader ever rise to power? So long as Christ’s followers remain on earth, they would recognize and oppose him. But he has already come! In fact, many have come, many times — and the majority of the Church has failed to recognize and understand. Even today, as this spirit multiplies and grows in power within our society, our government and the majority of our social institutions — even within the Church — God’s people do not see and understand. Now I ask you: if the Church no longer recognizes the spirit of Anti-Christ, what hope does the rest of this world have? Well, personally, I think it is high time that God’s people go back to His word, read what it actually says and what it means for us today.
First, grab your concordance and look up the word ‘antichrist.’ If you do not have a concordance or a study Bible, you can go to Biblegateway.com and search for the word. You will find it occurs only four times in the entire Bible, and all four times are in the writings of the Apostle, John — whom Jesus loved. Let’s look at all four passages: