Fearlessly Courageous

Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
6 28 2024

Audio Version

Some think the Antichrist is Satan incarnate.

I have been Reading a book by Dr. David Jeremiah called “After the Rapture” and I thought spending a little time talking about the rapture would be enlightening over the next few sessions.
Throughout history, many people have been erroneously identified as the antichrist. Caesars, Popes, Stalin, Hitler, but none of them fulfilled the biblical prophecies of the antichrist, but they all previewed him in someway. With all of the world activities today. With all of the antisemitism in America and the world the antichrist could very well be alive and well. I believe he is.
I think it might help us to know more about him, what he will be like, where he will come from, what will happen to him, because his reign will reach into every area of our lives and that of our children and grandchildren. If you are older and you think your spiritual influence is over with them
you are desperately wrong!

There are more than 100 passages of scripture that describe the antichrist, yet the word is only mention four times in the New Testament by the apostle John. 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; and 2nd John v7.
“Little children it is the last hour and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming even now, many antichrist have come, by which we know that it is the last hour” John 2:18

As, the word suggest the antichrist is a person who is against Christ. The prefix anti-can actually mean “instead of”, he is the enemy and the ultimate opponent of Jesus. Some people think that the antichrist is Satan incarnate. But he is actually Satans Superman, who Persecutes, tortures, and kills the people of God, making Hitler and Stalin seem weak and tame by comparison. More than 25 different titles are given to the antichrist in scriptures, all of which paint a composite picture of the most despicable person to ever walk on earth.

Here are some of the antichrist aliases to give us insight.
Daniel 8:23 A Fierce King and A Master of intrigue,
Daniel 9:26 The Prince who is to come
Daniel 11;21 A despicable man
Zachariah 11:17 A worthless Shepard
2 Thessalonians 2-3 The one who brings destruction
2nd Thessalonians 2:8 The lawless
1 revelations 13:1 The beast

The Bible does not tell us who the antichrist is. The second chapter of Thess says the coming world ruler is not revealed until after the rapture of the church. But he could very well be here now. He may have already emerged on the world scene, you may even know his name or he may be waiting in the wings, but make no mistake he is ready to burst onto the global scene. We may not know who he is, but it does tell us what he will be. Here is how he described in the Bible.

He is a charismatic leader
Crisis always opens the door for political, strong men to emerge with appealing solutions. The cascading crisis, triggered by the rapture, will call for someone with a strong hand to take control. It says the antichrist will catapult on the world scene as a consummate, charismatic problem solver and peacemaker. He is the man with a plan. John Phillips describes his rise and reception;

“The world will go delirious with delight at his manifestation. He will be the semi answer to all its needs. He will be filled with all the fullness of Satan. Handsome, charming, rakish, devil may care personality, a genius, superbly at home in all scientific disciplines, brave as a lion, and with an air of mystery about him to tease the imagination or chill the blood as a occasion may serve, a brilliant conversationalist in a score of tongues, a soul captivating orator, he will be the idol of all mankind”. Wow quite a picture!

The prophet Daniel described the antichrist in these graphic terms in Daniel 7:7–8, 25; “after this I saw in the night vision, and behold, a fourth beast…and their eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking pompous words…He shall speak, pompous words against the most high”.
So we have this charismatic personality, enhanced by his speaking ability, which he will use to sway the masses with words of power and promise.

We often failed to realize the gripping power of someone with a magnetic, compelling speaking ability. We pay actors millions of dollars to seduce us and carry us into a make-believe world. The book of revelation describes him in a similar fashion Rev 13 verse 5 “he was given a mouth speaking, great things and blasphemies”, Considering these other prophecies, it’s not hard to understand why Hitler has often been pegged as the prototype of the antichrist

We must all take evil seriously. Whether the end is nigh or not, we should work to minimize harm and maximize the good in the here and now in the name of Jesus. What you do matters!

Tim Staples said, “The Church traditionally distinguishes between the Antichrist, understood to be a pseudo-Messiah who will come at the end of time and lead “the world” against the Church in the “final trial,”

2nd Thessalonians 2: 3-12 describes the Antichrist as a person who will have all the power and deception of the devil himself. He will attempt to deceive people into believing that he is what he is not. Ultimately, he will claim himself to be God, and only the coming of the Lord will stop him! Christ himself will finally defeat him and cast him into hell.

Read his powerful depiction of the Antichrist in 2nd Thessalonians 2:3-12 :
Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition,
who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship,
so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this?
And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming.
The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish,
because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

“Children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists have come; therefore we know that it is the last hour. . . . Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son (1 John 2:18-22).
Next time the Personality of the Antichrist