Although neither Jesus nor the Old Testament prophets specifically mentioned the word "Antichrist", the term was used by the Apostle John in his epistles, in a way which shows that it was a familiar subject for the church at the end of the first century. It had been prophesied, John said, and now the prophecy was being fulfilled.

For John to say this, there must be a recognisable prophecy, somewhere in the Bible, which predicts the appearance of men who fit both John's description and the literal meaning of the word, described in the previous chapter. Since the term, "Antichrist", does not appear elsewhere in the Bible, it will be a prophecy which uses other words to describe the same thing.

This leads us directly to the prophecy, made by Jesus himself, in Matthew 24: 4-5,11 & 23-24.

Here Jesus foretold the appearance of false Christs and false prophets, who would lead their followers into deception. These counterfeits, Jesus said, would not be obvious, but sometimes so subtle and so hard to distinguish from the real thing that even true believers would find it difficult to recognise the deception.

The prophecy is not limited to one single person. Jesus said that MANY would come in his name, claiming to be Christ. Nor is the prophecy limited in time. We may expect MANY at DIFFERENT TIMES.

The prophecy is about many counterfeit forms of Christianity, adopted by many counterfeit Christians, following counterfeit Christs and using the name of Jesus as a cloak for their deceptions.

The history of the fulfilment of this prophecy is the history of "Antichrist".

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