WHAT IS YOUR VIEW ABOUT THE ANTICHRIST?

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So, the Antichrist. Who is he, and when is he coming? Should we even be worried about him? If you have been a Christian for all these years, as I am, certainly you have heard all sorts of stories about the coming of the man of sin who will force all of us to take the chip or something like that. In fact, Christian history has all sorts of theories of who that person is. For example, sometime during the Reformation days, believers were quite convinced that the Pope was the real biblical Antichrist. Other prominent figures like Hitler, Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin, Prince William, and Benjamin Netanyahu have all received their fair share of that accusation. More recently, the current US President (as of 2026) is the latest to be on the receiving end of the Beast label. I have noticed that even Artificial Intelligence has now entered into that race as well. That is, some God’s people believe that the current AI system (Narrow AI) will soon advance into Artificial Super-Intelligence (ASI), which would be “god-like” in its intelligence, enough for it to take control of the world (the kind of thing we see in Skynet, Terminator Genesys movie). There is also a debate about what Scripture calls the “Mark of the Beast (666).” Speculations range from COVID vaccines to microchip implants. Even Sunday worship has at one time been identified as the Mark by some Christian groups.

What I want us to do in this article is to stay away from guesswork and speculative conspiracy theories. Instead, I want us to look at what the Bible says about this subject. In truth, Scripture does not identify who the Antichrist is by name. Instead, these verses identify him as...

Lawless one/ Man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

World leader (Revelation 13:3).

Empowered by Satan to do mighty signs and wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9).

Will be loved by the world crowd/fan’s favorite (Revelation 13:3-4).

Will proclaim himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

Will force people to take his mark (Revelation 13:16-17).

Will make war against believers and conquer them (Revelation 13:7).

Will be destroyed when Christ comes (2 Thessalonians 2:8).

Will set the abomination of desolation (Matthew 24:15).

Bear it in mind though, as much as the above view of the Antichrist is held by a majority of believers (Pre-trib Dispensationalism), there are some who disagree. They do not believe in the Antichrist as an individual dictator sort of; instead, their view is that the Biblical Antichrist is simply a spirit of unbelief, false doctrine, and worldly rebellion that has been operating throughout church history. Which, in fact, means that the “Beast” is not something that is coming sometime way in the distant future but something that has always been present all along. All this rebellion against God and Christianity that we have been seeing around us has been the spirit of the Man of sin at work. They also believe this anti-God spirit is gradually losing its power as we head towards the end because the Gospel influence is gaining control – slowly but surely. Therefore, this view (Postmillennialism) is somewhat optimistic about the end times (expect things to get better), not the other way round where things spiral out of control. They look forward to the coming of Christ after the spirit of the Antichrist has been rendered powerless by the powerful effects of the Gospel message.

So, the final matter is that Scripture does not specially reveal the identity of the Antichrist; instead, believers are divided between two opinions: the Antichrist as a future dictator or as the present reality through a rebellious spirit. If you were to ask my honest opinion, I sort of combine these viewpoints this way: there is a present state of Antichristian spirit that opposes the Gospel message. In fact, according to 1 John 2:18, “There are many antichrists already in the world.” However, I still believe we are yet to see the full force of that spirit in operation. I believe things will get worse – definitely. Until one day someone or some sort of governmental system will enforce believers into submission to its evil, right before the Lord appears. Either way, I’m still a bit fuzzy about this whole Antichrist subject.

Before I conclude, there is something that I have to warn us about. That is, let us not become too focused and too fearful about who the Antichrist is, and what he will do. Instead, Christ’s sheep should be looking forward to the coming of their Saviour, not the revelation of the man of evil. The Christian life is, and must be, a joyful anticipation of that Day when the trumpet sounds, and “the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” – 1 Corinthians 15:50-55

Sinothi Ncube


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