HOUSMAIL Number HM#010 - IDENTIFYING THE ANTICHRIST                                          19 December 1998


This morning the following question was posted on another E-mail list which I receive. I thought it might be worth sharing my answer.


QUESTION

I remember once being shown a video about "The Antichrist" where, from what I could make out, a charismatic Jewish leader dressed in white robes appeared on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem exhorting the people to "cleanse the sanctuary", destroy the Mosque of Omar and reinstitute the priesthood and temple services. A large Jewish crowd overpower the Arab guards and arsonists set fire to the Mosque. Arab nations are outraged and mass for war.

Let us say that this happened sometime in the next six months and was played out on CNN. Jews and Christians are divided... Some say it is the Messiah... some say the Antichrist.

What would we say?

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MY ANSWER

Personally, I think my Historicist identification of the Antichrist, would be unshaken!

Antichrist has been around since the FIRST CENTURY! He is not one, but MANY! The world has been living in the "LAST TIME" since John wrote his first epistle! (1 John 2:18)

Antichrist is not a preacher of Judaism. (Nor is he a pagan.)

Antichrist is John's "many false prophets" of a "false christ". (1 John 4:1)

He is the many "christians" who have RE-INVENTED Jesus in a different form.

He is the many "christians" whose "false christ" says different things compared with the REAL CHRIST ..... who preach a "false gospel" offering salvation on different terms, and who say different things about the meaning of repentance and obedience!

The literal meaning of the word "antichrist" is "in place of christ".

In English, "Vicar" means "in place of". "Vicar of Christ" means "in place of christ".

I would still point to the succession of men who have been known for centuries as the "Vicar of Christ", as the MAIN prophets of "another christ"!

The apostate system comprised of the "Mother" Church, and the "daughter" Churches, are amongst John's MANY! (Rev 17:5)

Allon Maxwell.

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