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depends on a priest and six monks.
They alone, we are told, can foil the
evil plans of T horn. The Holy Child
will not be totally safe and secure
unt il the Antichrist is dead.
There is only one way the Anti–
christ can be killed. He must be·
stabbed with one of the seven
ancient daggers of Megiddo. One
by one, however, the monks die in
their attempts to skewer T horn.
In the end, the "final conftict" of
Good and Evil takes phice in a lonely
Celtic chape!. Damien Thorn is killed
by a woman BBC correspondent. who
stabs him in the back with one of the
seven magical daggers.
The Holy Ch ild is now safe.
Good triumphs over· Evil. A new
era dawns.
Fiction no t Fact!
How much, do you suppose, of the
above scenario is actually found in
Biple prophecy? All of it? Half of
it? None of it?
Do you know?
1t is to be hoped that even the
most bibl ically ill iterate moviegoers
are perceptive enough not to mis–
take the imaginative concoctions of
Hollywood for literal biblical t ruth.
Filmmakers have a well-known and
well-deserved reputation for bi–
zar re renderings of Scripture.
And, it seems, most preachers
are equally confused.
Do
you
know what the Bible
really says about the Antichrist?
You may be su rprised·!
To begin with, the Bible
never
once
speaks of
the
Ant ichrist!
However, the word
antichrist
does
appear in Scripture. This word–
meaning, from the Greek, "against
the Messiah"-is found only in the
New Testament, where it is used
exclusively by the apostle John in
his epistles.
What Scr lpture Reveals
Let's notice the four scriptures
where the word is found:
1 John 2: 18- " . .. as ye have
heard that antichrist shall come,
even now there are
many anti–
christs.
... "
1 John 2:22-"Who is a liar but
he that denieth that Jesus is the
Christ? He is antic hrist, that
denieth the Father and the Son."
1 John 4:3-"And every spi r it
that confesseth not that Jesus
14
Christ is come in the flesh is not of
God: and this is that spirit of anti–
christ, whereof ye have heard that
it should come; and
even now
a/ready
is it in the world."
11 John 7- "For many deceivers
are entered into the world, who
confess not that J esus Christ is
come in the flesh. This is a deceiver
and an antichrist."
These scriptures were written
toward the end of the 1st century
A.D. Even at that time, John
writes, there were
"many
ant i–
christs." Sorne 1,900 years ago, he
could say that the spirit of anti–
christ
"even now already
is in the
world."
In Bible usage, therefore, the
term
antichrist
does not refer exclu–
sively toa single political or religious
leader yet to ar ise in our day.
Man will discover that his
go-it-alone approach
will utterly fail him
in the end!
' '
T he four scriptures cited above
clearly show that an antichrist is a
deceiver and one who in sorne way
denies that J esus is the Christ.
How does one deny Christ?
·
By evil works! ·
Jesus prophesied that many
would come
saying
He is the Christ
(Matthew 24:5). These, as Paul
wrote to T itus,
"profess
that they
know God; but
in works they deny
him.
...
"They outwardly
claim
to
be Christians, but they refuse to
obey Him. The works of thei r lives
are evil.
This is antichrist!
Further, J ohn notes, an anti–
christ denies that J esus Christ,
through His Spirit, comes into the
flesh of His people, living His life
in them and enabling them to obey
the law of God (I John 3:24; Gala–
tians 2:20). This is the spirit of
antichrist-a spi r it of
/awlessness,
standing in opposition to God's law
and way of life.
There is yet another, even more
subt le way that many today deny
Christ-and yield to the spirit of
antichrist!
Alternat iva to Christ?
The Bible reveals that Jesus, the
Messiah or Christ, must return to
this earth with authority to estab–
lish . a 1,000-year reign of peace–
the Millennium. Were He
not
to
return, "no fles h would be saved
alive" (Matthew 24:22). Global
extinction would be inevitable!
T he Gospel or message of the
Bible is clear: Jesus Christ is the
only hope
for this earth!
Yet man has devised his own
counterfeits-philosophies, reli–
gions, systems of government–
purporting to offer alternative solu–
tions to global survival. Man
believes that by channeling his
resources, his technology, his intel–
lectual energies into solving the
problems he faces, he will be able
to find
his own
solutions to the
world's ills.
This is also thespirit of antichrist–
a denial of the necessity of the Mes–
siah and His mission! Man will discov–
er that his go-it-alone approach will
utterly fai l him in the end!
We now see that in its true bibli–
cal sense,
antichrist
has a wide
application. lt can refer to persons
and powers, attitudes and behav–
iors. The spirit of antichrist is
found in individuals, in institutions,
in religions, in societies and in gov–
ernments.
In fact, there has been little in
this world over the past 19 centu–
r ies since the days of Jesus that has
not fallen within the broad spi r it of
antichrist! Little wonder, for the
Bible reveals that
Satan
is yet "the
god of this world" (II Corinthians
·4:4). The world is under Satan's
rule, not God's government.
But Satan's days are numbered!
Yet what of all the talk by
prophecy hobbyists about a coming
Antichrist? What of all the nefar–
ious deeds attributed to him?
Many use the term
Antichrist
to
designate an end-time personality
who will embody the spirit of oppo–
sition to Christ. This unbiblical
usage is unfortunate.
The Bible nowhere speaks of
an
end-time Antichrist.
(Continued on page 37)
ThB
PLAIN TRUTH