Of all the personalities that play a significant role, next to Jesus Christ, and the one who generates the most interest and speculation is a person known as the Antichrist. He will not only oppose Christ, but will also present himself as a false Christ or Messiah. He may very well be alive today but his true identity will not be made known until after the rapture of the church. But from where does he come? How does he get his start? And from where does he derive his power? God gave to the prophet Daniel a vision of the course of Gentile history recorded in Daniel 7. Like the vision given to Nebuchadnezzar 50 years earlier in Daniel 2, four Gentile world powers are predicted, culminating in the Romans or the Western world. But revealed to Daniel is a future Western leader who will emerge from the G-10 leaders, known as 'little horn'. He will have an insignificant beginning but will quickly rise to power, eventually ruling the world. His power will come from Satan himself, for the Antichrist will sell his soul to Satan in exchange for the kingdoms of this world. The Scriptures reveal that he will be incredibly intelligent and an articulate, persuasive speaker. He will be the leader the world is longing for he will have an answer to the problems facing mankind. Now while the Antichrist is yet to be revealed, the Scriptures reveal that even today there are many antichrists, small 'a', who deny that Jesus is the Christ. They claim to be Christians and may even do signs and wonders, but they are not. There's a warning here to all of us to beware" Not everything labeled "Christian" is Christian. |
