The Bible speaks of the spirit of Antichrist being at work even at the time the Bible was written. The Bible also speaks of a beast in Revelation and the man of lawlessness who will cause the abomination of desolation. Most people know the number assigned to the Antichrist is 666. Many people see the whole idea of antichrist is a myth having no meaning. Even amongst Christians there are those who believe that all of the Bible’s prophecies about the Antichrist have already happened in the distant past and that Antioch Epiphanes or someone else was the Antichrist. There are even those who are or who call themselves Christians and just hold that the book or Revelation and the Antichrist simply have no meaning but an allegorical one.
Most Bible believing evangelicals do however believe in the Antichrist. Many of the readers of the Left Behind series are believers in the Antichrist. While I don’t think this is a perfectly accurate description there is some truth to the Nicolae Carpathia character as the Antichrist. Many traditional eschatology teachers believe that the Antichrist will be a leader from a revived Roman Empire. These views come from reading prophecy in the book of Daniel and corresponding prophecies in Revelation. There is also however, a new camp of believers that see Islam as being the kingdom that will bring the Antichrist. to power. Joel Richardson, author of The Islamic Antichrist is a leading proponent of this argument. He and others see the prophecy somewhat the same but see it as being fulfilled by Islam not any kind of Roman Empire.
The basic facts are that at some time in the future a man who comes in the name of peace will fulfill the prophecies in the Bible and he will really bring war and destruction and death .He will persecute the church and exalt himself above all that is called god.. The Antichrist will seem great too many and he will bring powerful signs and wonders. But deep down this Antichrist is evil to the core and he will be an end times leader that will rule a large portion of the world.
Many charismatic leaders have been accused of being the Antichrist, from Ronald Reagan to the Pope to of course President Barrack Obama. Almost any leader who is charismatic can and will be accused of being the Antichrist.
Most end times followers believe that the Antichrist will bring about a seven year peace treaty between Israel and her neighbors and then break the treaty half way through. Any one ho can accomplish anything remotely like this peace treaty will be considered the Antichrist by many. For anyone to achieve peace, even temporary peace the Middle East it really will be a wonder.
