The Antichrist, and why the Jews were not so wrong

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Hello, I was just reading an End Times thread and it reminded me a question I had:

Will we know who the Antichrist is when he comes? Will we distinguish him from Christ the King in the Apocalipse?

Of course, my first reaction would be to say yes, because Jesus describes the Antichrist as a person who will make others believe he is God, and he will persecute the Church (I think).

But then there is the problem that Jesus also implied He was God and the Messiah during His earthly life, and many Jews, including the religious authorities of that time, didn’t believe Him, and they had arguably good reasons, as many OT prophecies talked about the Messiah as a King who build a New Kingdom.

Now, we Catholics now know that these prophecies spoke about the Second Coming; but, how would the Jews of 1st Century know that? Weren’t they right to suspect a man who claims to be God? Isn’t that the mindset that we as Catholics now have?

What would happen if, just like He did in the 1st Century, God tries to surprises us again by not following the prophecies literally? Will we distinguish Him from the Antichrist?
 
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I think the problem arises when we get absorbed with trying to identify THE antichrist. I’m not denying there will be such a singular “one” being, but as St. John tells us, there are many antichrists. (1 John 1:22;; 1 John 2:22; 1 John 4:3.) They’ve been there ever since the time of Our Lord. We need to be aware of them and not listen to or believe what they say.

It’s good to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church in regard to the “antichrist” - CCC 675–677.
 
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AlbMagno said:
Now, we Catholics now know that these prophecies spoke about the Second Coming; but, how would the Jews of 1st Century know that? Weren’t they right to suspect a man who claims to be God? Isn’t that the mindset that we as Catholics now have?
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There were Jews during the first century who believed Jesus was the Messiah. They became members of the new covenant and new holy nation, the Church.

Those Jews who disbelieved were deceived primarily by the wicked Jewish leadership, who sided with Rome in crucifying their own Lord and Savior. Their refusal to believe resulted in their destruction, along with Jerusalem and the Temple.

There have been many Antichrists since the foundation of the Church, I don’t hold to the belief that the prophecies were speaking primarily about one specific person yet to make an appearance.
 
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Crusader13 said:
Those Jews who disbelieved were deceived primarily by the wicked Jewish leadership, who sided with Rome in crucifying their own Lord and Savior
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But couldn’t that happen to a Catholic too? Imagine being raised as a Jew at that time, being told that God made an endless pact with Israel, protected by the leadership; only to find out that that endless pact was to be fullfilled by an unknown man who defied those leadership…

Imagine if God decided to return in the Second Coming in that fashion, as a man who defies the Papacy, and only later it is widely understood that the New Pact was fulfilled with that man.

Wouldn’t us practising Catholics believe God to be a heretic, likewise?
 
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This post discusses Antichrist…not the Second Coming of Jesus Christ

This is an attempt to address the original post question of whether we will recognize Antichrist when he comes. It is a good question because Antichrist will falsely mimic many messianic attributes. He will be seductive, charming (like the Pied Piper), may mimic the resurrection and other of Jesus’ miracles.

Revelation 17:8

8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

A thought borrowed from the movie Jurassic Park:

Could this beast be a cloned, evil, dead man, whose soul was sent to hell in the first incarnation, and who returns as Antichrist clone(s)? He is pre-condemned to perdition because of his first judgment.

NOTE: A cloned human is a beast. No mother or father (no act of reproductive affection)…just photocopied and incubated in the laboratory from a diploid cell.

This beast would be world famous on sight, according to Revelation 17:8. He is famous (or infamous).

"…and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world."

Would these people perceive such a man’s reappearance as a genuine resurrection from the grave?

Would they hasten to worship him as a messiah, a false Christ? Their names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, so they might be so deceived.
 
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This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this idea presented-interesting.
Not sure if that’s how it will play out but -interesting.
 
The traditional view of the Saints and Fathers of the Church is that there will be one human Antichrist who will be fully possessed and controlled by the spirit of Satan, himself (Antichrist is a medium for channeling Satan).

If Antichrist is cloned from a dead, evil, man, as Revelation 17:8 might suggest, there could be multiple copies…perhaps hundreds…perhaps 666 copies of this single individual. Antichrist could be a cohort of a man.

Of course, there are numerous little antichrists all around us, through all epochs. People who aggrandize themselves, are materialistic, ungodly, scoff at Christians and Catholics, are selfish, lack empathy, are unloving, etc. Psychologists today call them “narcissists.”
 
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AlbMagno said:
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Crusader13:
Those Jews who disbelieved were deceived primarily by the wicked Jewish leadership, who sided with Rome in crucifying their own Lord and Savior
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But couldn’t that happen to a Catholic too? Imagine being raised as a Jew at that time, being told that God made an endless pact with Israel, protected by the leadership; only to find out that that endless pact was to be fullfilled by an unknown man who defied those leadership…

Imagine if God decided to return in the Second Coming in that fashion, as a man who defies the Papacy, and only later it is widely understood that the New Pact was fulfilled with that man.

Wouldn’t us practising Catholics believe God to be a heretic, likewise?
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Catechism of the Catholic Church
71 God made an everlasting covenant with Noah and with all living beings (cf. Gen 9:16). It will remain in force as long as the world lasts.
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AlbMagno said:
I was refering more to the covenant of Abraham.
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OK. Yes, the covenant with Abraham was described in perpetuity in Genesis 17:
8 And to you and to your descendants after you, I shall give the country where you are now immigrants, the entire land of Canaan, to own in perpetuity. And I shall be their God.’
9 God further said to Abraham, 'You for your part must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation.
10 This is my covenant which you must keep between myself and you, and your descendants after you: every one of your males must be circumcised.
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Also note the in Christian tradition, circumcision was not a mere ceremony, but a sacramental rite. (See Catholic Encyclopedia for more details, old version.)
 
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Actually you bring up a very good analogy. Because in many ways you can easily put yourself in the shoes of a first century Jew simply by looking at our Church today.

Put our Church in place of the Jewish hierarchy. You basically have the entire deposit of scripture and tradition, which has been guiding the Church. Up to that point the prophecies had told them of the Messiah and the restoration of the Kingdom.

Jesus appears on scene and using those scriptures, He tells them everything that they’ve been taught and led to believe has finally come to fruition. The Kingdom was at hand.

The hierarchy had become wicked and self serving and no longer believed in God, that’s why they were called the synagogue of Satan. The old covenant was passing away in fulfillment of the new.

There’s a clear distinction being made between the Scriptures and what they said concerning Jesus and with the hierarchy, who clearly did not hold those beliefs. So it wasn’t the doctrines and teachings which were wrong. It was the leadership who corrupted these teachings.

In many ways this is similar to our Church today. We have a deposit of faith along with centuries of doctrines and traditions which have consistently guided our Church. Unfortunately not every member of our hierarchy has held to these teachings and at times they have led others astray.
 
I don’t agree with the Church’s criticism, but I understand what you say.
 
AlbMagno said:
I don’t agree with the Church’s criticism, but I understand what you say.
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I’m not criticizing the Church, I’m speaking of individuals who don’t always hold to the beliefs. You had asked how would we Catholics fare if what happened to the Jews in the first century, happened to us in the present?

How did the Jews know not to follow their wicked leaders? The same way we would know not to follow our own clergy if that happened to us.
 
AlbMagno said:
Will we know who the Antichrist is when he comes? Will we distinguish him from Christ the King in the Apocalipse?
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The Early Church Fathers, Orthodox elders (Fr. Seraphim Rose), and many Catholic leaders (Fulton Sheen) all unanimously said the following about the Antichrist:
  • He will try to convince people he is Christ. (“Anti” means “against” but also means “in place of” in Greek.)
  • He will use miraculous signs and wonders
  • Many people will believe he is God or Jesus returned: "Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition (II Thessalonians 2:3). "
  • He will sit in the rebuilt Temple of Jerusalem: "[The antichrist] opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sits in the Temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God… (2 Thessalonians 2:4)
The Bible says that when Jesus does comes back, it will be unmistakable: it will be sudden, from heaven (Acts 1:11), and it will mark the end of this world. For that reason, we are warned not to believe anyone who says Jesus has come back and is just walking around: "if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ, or there; believe it not … If therefore they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the wilderness, go not forth; Behold, he is in the inner chambers, believe it not. For as lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be " (Matt. 24:23-27)
 
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AlbMagno said:
But then there is the problem that Jesus also implied He was God and the Messiah during His earthly life, and many Jews, including the religious authorities of that time, didn’t believe Him, and they had arguably good reasons, as many OT prophecies talked about the Messiah as a King who build a New Kingdom.
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Jesus himself said: if you don’t believe me, believe the works: the blind see, the lame walk, etc. The devil cannot do good, he would be working against himself. It is by their hardness of heart that they didn’t believe in him, the signs were there.
 
There was an anti-Christ in Jesus’ time, it was Caesar and the Jews were content to say they had no king but him.

Which brings me to a personal theory I’ve held for a while. Maybe its not really a theory but rather a form of pattern that tends to happen (history does tend to repeat itself in a manner doesn’t it?). I think that much like how the anti-Christ is suppose to come before Jesus comes back, many will be tired of waiting, or have given themselves over to worldly desires/ thinking.

But if you followed the Jewish law in the way God intended, you still would have gone to Heaven once Jesus died. So…the point is make sure you follow the teachings of Christ and his instituted priesthood, not the teachings of man or the world. Then you’ll make it to Heaven.

I do think that the Anti-Christ will try to fool “even the elect” with false miracles and such, but the point is when Jesus comes back, you will know it truly in your soul. So don’t believe the false prophets that rise up from time to time.

I also think this is why heresies that are prevalent in some forms of Protestantism such as milleniarism (do I have that right theologians?) where they say Jesus will reign 1000 years on earth, are so dangerous. Because if someone (Antichrist) does come in a worldly manner that is tricky enough to fool people into believing he is Jesus then this could be a major spiritual trip hazard, if you catch what I’m saying.
 
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Interesting point, but isn’t it established that Satan can do miracles to fool people? Obviously not doing exorcisms (as the Gospel clarifies), but healings are possible.
 
Established? I don’t think so. By their works you will know them. The devil can bring about spectacular signs, like what the Pharaoh’s magicians did… but curing the sick? nope.
 
Jewish tradition says that four miracles were reserved for the Messiah: casting out a deaf-mute spirit, giving sight to a man blind from birth, cleansing a leper, and raising a dead man after four days. Rabbinic tradition also said that the Messiah would bring back the manna that had not been seen since the Israelites entered the Promised Land. That is why these things are recorded in the Gospel According to John (all of the Gospels record that Jesus cleansed lepers, but only John reports all four of the miracles which Jews believed only the Messiah could do, as well as the New Manna).
 
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