The apostle John is the only Bible writer to mention the word "antichrist(s)", mentioning it some 5 times at 1 John 2:18 (twice), verse 22, 4:3, and 2 John 7. Yet most never carefully examine what John said about these, but rather "run off " and make up "stories" as to whom (or what) they feel it is.
At 1 John 2, John says: "Young children, it is the last hour, and, just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now there have come to be many antichrists; from which fact we gain the knowledge that it is the last hour." What did John mean by the "last hour" ?
John was aware that the Christian congregation was being attacked from both within and out, that it was the "last hour" before the foretold apostasy would fully blossom and remain until the "harvest".(Matt 13:24-30, 36-43)
In verse 19 of chapter 2, he says: "They (those who became antichrists) went out from us, but they were not of our sort; for if they had been of our sort, they would have remained with us. But they went out that it might be shown up that not all are of our sort."(1 John 2:18) Thus, the antichrists originated from within the Christian congregation.
The word "antichrist" means "against (or instead of ) Christ." So, in its broadest sense, the term refers to all who oppose or lyingly claim to be Christ or his representatives. Jesus said: "He that is not on my side is against me [or is antichrist], and he that does not gather with me scatters."(Luke 11:23)
But John having written about antichrists some 60 years after Jesus death, the antichrist's activities needs to be understood in the light of how they affect Jesus loyal followers on earth, his "brothers".(Matt 25:40, 45) Jesus warned that his genuine disciples would be persecuted, saying that "people will deliver you up to tribulation and will kill you, and you will be objects of hatred by all the nations on account of my name....And many false prophets will arise and mislead many."(Matt 24:9, 11)
Thence, the persecutors of these loyal Christians are clearly antichrist, against Christ. The words of both Jesus and John plainly show that the antichrist is not a single person, but is made up of many individual antichrists. Moreover, because many are "false prophets", one of their main objectives is religious deception.
The apostle Paul warned of the teachings of apostates, such as Hymenaeus and Philetus, whose "word will spread like gangrene."(2 Tim 2:17) Also there were the Gnostics who believed that knowledge could be derived in a mystical way. These combined apostate Christianity with Greek philosophy and Oriental mysticism, holding that that all physical matter is evil and thus reasoning that Jesus did not come in the flesh but only seemed to have a human body - a belief called Docetism.
Another fabrication, concocted centuries later, is the doctrine of the so-called holy Trinity. Dr. Alvan Lamson, in his book The Church of the First Three Centuries states that the doctrine of the Trinity "had its origin in a source entirely foreign from that of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures; that it grew up, and was ingrafted on Christianity, through the hands of the Platonizing Fathers." Who were these "Platonizing Fathers" ? They were apostate clerics who were infatuated with the teachings of the pagan Greek philosopher Plato (428 ?-347 B.C.E.).
The engrafting of the trinity was a masterstroke of the antichrists, for this doctrine shrouded God in mystery and blurred his relationship with the Son.(John 14:28; 15:10; Col 1:15) How can one draw close to God, if he is a "mystery" ? And adding to the confusion, many Bible translators have taken God's name, Jehovah, out of their translations, even though it occurs over 7,000 times in the Hebrew ("Old Testament") and Christian Greek Scriptures ("New Testament"), making him a nameless God to the masses.
And some religious leaders preach that God's Kingdom is a condition of the heart, a view that finds no valid basis in the Scriptures, for Jesus did not say to the wicked Pharisees that "the kingdom of God is within you", but rather that "the kingdom of God is in your midst."(Luke 17:21) That it is a real government can be seen from Daniel 2:44, that shows that it will "crush" all human governments. Thus, antichrists are everywhere.
At 1 John 2, John says: "Young children, it is the last hour, and, just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now there have come to be many antichrists; from which fact we gain the knowledge that it is the last hour." What did John mean by the "last hour" ?
John was aware that the Christian congregation was being attacked from both within and out, that it was the "last hour" before the foretold apostasy would fully blossom and remain until the "harvest".(Matt 13:24-30, 36-43)
In verse 19 of chapter 2, he says: "They (those who became antichrists) went out from us, but they were not of our sort; for if they had been of our sort, they would have remained with us. But they went out that it might be shown up that not all are of our sort."(1 John 2:18) Thus, the antichrists originated from within the Christian congregation.
The word "antichrist" means "against (or instead of ) Christ." So, in its broadest sense, the term refers to all who oppose or lyingly claim to be Christ or his representatives. Jesus said: "He that is not on my side is against me [or is antichrist], and he that does not gather with me scatters."(Luke 11:23)
But John having written about antichrists some 60 years after Jesus death, the antichrist's activities needs to be understood in the light of how they affect Jesus loyal followers on earth, his "brothers".(Matt 25:40, 45) Jesus warned that his genuine disciples would be persecuted, saying that "people will deliver you up to tribulation and will kill you, and you will be objects of hatred by all the nations on account of my name....And many false prophets will arise and mislead many."(Matt 24:9, 11)
Thence, the persecutors of these loyal Christians are clearly antichrist, against Christ. The words of both Jesus and John plainly show that the antichrist is not a single person, but is made up of many individual antichrists. Moreover, because many are "false prophets", one of their main objectives is religious deception.
The apostle Paul warned of the teachings of apostates, such as Hymenaeus and Philetus, whose "word will spread like gangrene."(2 Tim 2:17) Also there were the Gnostics who believed that knowledge could be derived in a mystical way. These combined apostate Christianity with Greek philosophy and Oriental mysticism, holding that that all physical matter is evil and thus reasoning that Jesus did not come in the flesh but only seemed to have a human body - a belief called Docetism.
Another fabrication, concocted centuries later, is the doctrine of the so-called holy Trinity. Dr. Alvan Lamson, in his book The Church of the First Three Centuries states that the doctrine of the Trinity "had its origin in a source entirely foreign from that of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures; that it grew up, and was ingrafted on Christianity, through the hands of the Platonizing Fathers." Who were these "Platonizing Fathers" ? They were apostate clerics who were infatuated with the teachings of the pagan Greek philosopher Plato (428 ?-347 B.C.E.).
The engrafting of the trinity was a masterstroke of the antichrists, for this doctrine shrouded God in mystery and blurred his relationship with the Son.(John 14:28; 15:10; Col 1:15) How can one draw close to God, if he is a "mystery" ? And adding to the confusion, many Bible translators have taken God's name, Jehovah, out of their translations, even though it occurs over 7,000 times in the Hebrew ("Old Testament") and Christian Greek Scriptures ("New Testament"), making him a nameless God to the masses.
And some religious leaders preach that God's Kingdom is a condition of the heart, a view that finds no valid basis in the Scriptures, for Jesus did not say to the wicked Pharisees that "the kingdom of God is within you", but rather that "the kingdom of God is in your midst."(Luke 17:21) That it is a real government can be seen from Daniel 2:44, that shows that it will "crush" all human governments. Thus, antichrists are everywhere.
