Daily Happenings from poetsareangels

Taken from the Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of World Religions

Here is a dose of daily religion from A to Z.

Today’s religious topic is as follows:

“Antichrist”, the chief enemy of JESUS CHRIST. The earliest mention of the name Antichrist—which was probably coined in Christian eschatological literature (that is, literature concerned with the end of time)—is in the letters of St. John (1 John 2: 18, 22, 2 John 7), although the figure does appear in the earlier 2 Thessalonians as “the lawless one.” The idea of a mighty ruler who will appear at the end of time and whose essence is enmity of God is older and was taken from JUDAISM.

Jewish ESCHATOLOGY had been influenced by Iranian and Babylonian myths of the battle of God and the Devil at the end of time. The OLD TESTAMENT conception of the struggle is found in the Prophecy of Daniel, written at the beginning of the Maccabean period (c. 167-164 BCE). The historical figure who served as a model for the Antichrist was Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the persecutor of the Jews, and he left a lasting impression upon the conception. Since then, ever recurring characterizations of this figure are that he would appear as a might ruler at the head of gigantic armies, destroy three rulers (the three horns, Daniel 7:8, 24), persecute the saints (7:25), and devastate the Temple of God.

A Christian view of the Antichrist is given in 2 Thessalonians 2. Here the Antichrist appears as a tempter who works by signs and wonders and seeks to obtain divine honors; it is further signified that this”man of lawlessness” will obtain credence, especially among the Jews because they have not accepted the truth. This version of the figure of the Antichrist, who may now really for the first time be described by this name, appears to have been at once widely accepted in Christendom. The idea that Jews would believe in the Antichrist as punishment for not having believed in the true Christ seems to be expressed by the author of the fourth Gospel (John 5:43). The conception of the Antichrist as a perverter of men led naturally to his connection with false doctrine (1 John 2:18, 22, 4:3, 2 John 7). In REVELATION TO JOHN the Antichrist is seen as a worker of wonders and a seducer.

In the Middle Ages the idea of the Antichrist developed into a powerful historical and political factor, especially in times of crisis. It became common for opponents, including popes and emperors, to call each other the Antichrist. Immense interest was focused and “the signs of the times” preceding it: upheavals in nature, wars, pestilence, famine, and other disasters. Preachers spread warnings of his coming in order to call the people to repentance throughout the 14th and 15th centuries.

During the REFORMATION, the Reformers, especially MARTIN LUTHER, did not attack individual popes but the PAPACY itself as the Antichrist. This idea that evil was embodied in the head of the church itself, with the clergy as the “body of the Antichrist,” became the most powerful weapon to discredit and denigrate the papacy.

After the Reformation, emphasis on the Antichrist figure gradually diminished. Among some modern Protestant theologians the Antichrist can be interpreted as whatever denies the lordship of Christ and tends to deify a political power—within either the church or the state. In premillennial theology the experience of a personal Antichrist at the end of time remains strong. (See also MILLENNIALISM)

The Antichrist Manuscript Made Public By Bavarian Library

(Comeback on 11/15/14 and continue to learn about religion. Tomorrow you’ll read and learn more about “Antigone”.

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