Antichrists
Scripture Reading: Psalm 138; Ezekiel 40; 1 John 2
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. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 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
Before X (previously known as Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, or any of the popular social media platforms so predominant today, I had a blog like many people in those days of antiquity. It was an internet spot where I did long-form essay style writing. For a few days once, I was the number 3 blog of all blogs writing on religious subjects. What vaulted me to those lofty heights was a series I was doing reviewing and critiquing a book by Ekert Tolle that Oprah launched into popularity.
The book piggybacked off of Christianity but completely and deceptively distorted the gospel and the person of Jesus Christ. The author twisted Scripture and the teachings of Jesus, turning Jesus into his own spiritual Gumby. A lot of people were sucked into this hellish vortex and I was methodically seeking to deconstruct this deadly teaching.
Back then, engagement with readers was much slower and mostly more productive than you can get on today’s social media. That engagement came in the form of comments on articles I wrote. Most of the time they were thoughtful and challenging. I would respond with counter-arguments. It was slow and methodical, but worthwhile. I miss those days.
One particular comment caught me off guard though. The reader made an assertion that I was the same crackpot that wrote the book, “George Bush is the Antichrist.” First, I didn’t know there was any such book, and second, I wondered why he thought I wrote it. Well, he had good reason to believe that because I did some looking and there was such a book and the author’s name was Steve Hanchett. Strange coincidence but I didn’t write it.
Whoever this other Steve Hanchett is, he made the same mistake people have been making for a long, long time – He stated with absolute certainty who the Antichrist is.
I remember some friends I had in high school who were sure that JFK was the Antichrist. “Wait” you say, “Wasn’t he already dead?” Yes, you are correct. But their theory went like this: The Antichrist is going to rise up after having a deadly head wound and amaze the whole world. So, since, JFK was shot in the head, he must be living on an island somewhere and he is going to come back and because he was so loved and popular among the people, he will be worshiped and become a world ruler.
Far fetched, but they were certain it was correct.
A guy I read on X with some regularity argued convincingly that Trump is the Antichrist. Others say Musk, but he says Musk is Trump’s false prophet, his right hand man, but Trump is the actual guy.
Almost every world leader in my lifetime has been pegged by someone to be the Antichrist.
So, next time you want to say that about someone, you might want to pump the breaks a little. Is there going to be an Antichrist? John says there is. Who is it? I don’t know.
What we can know is that there are a lot of antichrists (lower case “a”). Who are they? People who deny that Jesus is the Christ. People, like Ekert Tolle. There are a lot of them. The way they can be sniffed out is by what they believe about Jesus. Do they deny that He is the Christ? They are antichrist.
