It is a sad fact that most of the modern church has lost the real meaning of the term, "ANTICHRIST".

For those who really want to know the truth, there is no need for this ignorance. At the end of the first century, the Apostle John, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, identified the Antichrist of his day. John's warning to the first century church also left a key of understanding which has enabled others, in all ages, to correctly identify the working of the "Spirit of Antichrist" in their own time.

However, not all have listened carefully to the Spirit of God. As a result, in virtually every generation of the continuing history of the church, there have been men who have missed the mark by being too ready to identify the Antichrist as some prominent figure, associated with significant events in their own local history. For example, earlier this century, during World War 1, many British Christians were convinced that the German Kaiser was the Antichrist. In the late 1930s Mussolini was named. After the commencement of World 2 it was Hitler. When those prophecies failed without the arrival of either Armageddon or the Second Coming, other teachers soon found new targets for speculation. In recent times. Henry Kissinger and Saddam Hussein have both been proposed as contenders. We may be certain that there will be more. There is no shortage of false prophets in a generation of "children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine"

Over the last few decades an enormous number of popular books have been published, containing many spectacular and fanciful theories. These books hide the truth by concentrating attention on the supposed sudden appearance of a mysterious, evil and powerful world ruler, in the almost immediate future.

These many books have been widely accepted and have played a major role in shaping the attitudes of the 20th century church. However, there are still some serious students of the Bible, for whom these modern theories are far from satisfactory. They require a little too much speculation to fill in the obvious gaps and they ignore the great weight of evidence from past history.

In this small book we shall explore an interpretation of the prophecies about the Antichrist, which is no longer popular.

It was, however, until only a few decades ago, the common understanding of most of the Protestant church. It was taught by well known Protestant leaders such as Luther. Bunyan, Huss, Wycliffe, Calvin, Tyndale, Knox, and Wesley. It was also the conviction , born in bitter experience, of that often forgotten minority who down through the centuries, have suffered so terribly for their refusal to conform or submit to the Catholic mainstream.

We shall identify the Antichrist, not in the future, but in the history of the Papacy.

I do acknowledge that, for many, this plain and direct statement may be hard to accept.

I do not know how to say it in a way which will make it acceptable for everyone.

All I can do is urge readers not to take offence at this point, but to read all the way to the end and prayerfully consider the evidence presented.

By properly identifying the Antichrist we shall also more clearly understand the Real Christ.