Fat hurts wrote:
Believer in Christ wrote:
Fat hurts stop being dense and I'm being as respectful as possible. When there are passages in Scripture that mention the "man of sin", "son of perdition", "the beast", "man of lawlessness", these describe an extremy powerful man who opposes Christ and seeks to literally rule the world. That is the very definition of the AntiChrist who will persecute all Christians and demand worship as a deity.
You are the first Christian that I have encountered in over 35 years that denies that there will be an AntiChrist during the end times. If you were an atheist or non believer, then I would understand your position. I don't know what church or denomination you attend, but if your pastor is preaching this, I have to say he is not being true to the Word.
You've never met an amillenialist or a preterist?
You don't get out much.
As for being true to the word, I notice that you ignore the places in scripture where "antichrist" is actually mentioned. Those are 1 John 2:18, 2 John 1:7, 1 John 2:22, and 1 John 4:2–3. It is clear from those passages that John does not consider "antichrist" to be an end times figure. You are using the word "antichrist" to describe something very different from the way John used that term.
1 John 2:18 explanation:
John focused on warning against "antichrists" which he encountered during his lifetime. These are NOT the same as the end-times figure mentioned in Revelation.
1 John 2:22 explanation:
John defines the kind of liar he has in mind: someone who denies that Jesus is the Christ, meaning the Messiah. The concept of a liar is mentioned four other times in this letter (1 John 1:10; 2:4; 4:20; 5:10). A liar denies Jesus is the Savior. A liar may acknowledge some aspects of who Jesus is, but does not accept the true message of Jesus as both fully human and fully divine. Again, this is not same end-times figure in Revelation.
2 John 1:7 explanation:
John discusses false teachers that he observed. John begins by stating that there were not a few, but "many" deceitful teachers. In addition, they are not all in one place, but are spread out among "the world." John's words were words of warning and caution. Again, he is not referring to the end-times figure in Revelation.
1 John 4:2-3 explanation:
John continues to talk about false teachers who do not confess that Christ came as flesh (as a human) from God. He refers to this spirit as that of an "antichrist." This is different from the world ruler described in the end times in Revelation. John specifically notes that this is a spirit—and attitude—which was already working in the world of his readers.
You are confusing false teachers which John described as having the "spirit of antichrists" with THE AntiChrist mentioned in Revelation. John did indeed refer to false teachers as "antichrists" as a warning to the people and to stay from them. However, John wrote about a future world dictator, the AntiChrist, in the end times he would seek to destroy those that would dare oppose him. You do realize that John is NOT talking about the same thing he wrote about in 1 John.