“ | He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time. | „ |
~ Daniel 7:25 on the Antichrist. |
The Antichrist, is the secondary antagonist of Christian theology. He is an end-times false messiah who, as the name suggests, is the complete opposite and ultimate enemy of Jesus Christ.
He is part of the Unholy Trinity, which he, Satan, and the Beast constitute. His most prominent role in the Bible is shown in the Book of Revelation.
He is often considered one of the most openly antagonistic entities in religious texts, seen as a direct opposite of the messianic figures; he is also often seen as either an avatar of Satan or a follower of Satan, some also believe the Antichrist is not a single entity but rather a title shared among prominent enemies of the Abrahamic faiths.
Appearance
According to the Book of Revelation, the Beast from the Sea is described as looking a lot like a leopard with the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion. It had seven heads each with a name of blasphemy and ten horns with a crown around them.
In various paintings and other artworks, the Antichrist resembles Jesus although unlike Christ he is not holy, implying that he is a shapeshifter similar to the Devil who takes on the form of his counterpart.
Bio
The following is a Dispensationalist view of the Antichrist.
It is unknown whether the Antichrist will make himself known to everyone before or after the Rapture, an event where millions of Christians worldwide are suddenly raised into the air to reunite with God. Biblical Scripture, however, indicates that the Antichrist shall rise to power as a global dictator, initiating the Tribulation, an event that is worse than any worst event in recorded history and will last for 7 years.
Once in power, the Antichrist successfully convinces humanity that he will bring world peace, especially during a time marked by warfare and suffering; despite this, God will send many divine judgements to punish the unbelieving world. The Antichrist establishes a powerful one-world empire, commonly referred to as the Mystery Babylon, with it being believed that this empire is a revival of the Roman Empire. He also signs a seven-year covenant with Israel, promising to defend the nation at all costs. Then, a harlot church, known as the Whore of Babylon, is established and led by the False Prophet, who is the right hand of the Antichrist. Nevertheless, 144,000 Jews will preach the Gospel to the world and many will repent. The Whore of Babylon is a one-world interfaith religious system that will hypocritically persecute and behead those who have repented.
Meanwhile, the long-prophesied Third Temple will be constructed on Temple Mount in Israel, where Jews will make offerings to God. Halfway through the Tribulation, the Antichrist reveals his true colors by betraying Israel, effectively breaking the seven-year covenant, and invading it. He will also declare the temple offerings to be illegal. Despite this, many Jews will repent as a result of this devastating betrayal. The Antichrist is suddenly assassinated but somehow, presumably through Satan's power, he is resurrected, mocking how Jesus died and rose from the dead. Unsatisfied with his current empire, the Antichrist destroys the Whore of Babylon and demands everyone to worship him as a god. Besides the Christian God, he even shows disdain for the other gods that the Bible condemns as "false gods", showing how completely insane the Antichrist is.
Meanwhile, two witnesses will prophesy on the streets of Jerusalem, calling for humanity to repent, but after 1,260 days, the Antichrist will kill them and leave their bloodied bodies on the street. Their murder will be broadcasted worldwide and the Antichrist will encourage humanity to rejoice over their deaths. However, they are revived three and a half days later and taken to Heaven, much to everyone's shock. One hour later, a great earthquake will strike and kill seven thousand people. In Heaven, the archangel Michael and his angels wage war against Satan and his demons, with Satan losing. Satan and his demons are permanently shut away from Heaven (they could previously accuse God's people in Heaven's courtroom). Satan realizes that his time is short and decides to possess the Antichrist to achieve his ultimate plan: To be worshiped as God. Possessed, the Antichrist sets up image of himself in the Third Temple and proudly blasphemes God in front of everyone in an event known as the Abomination of Desolation. The False Prophet will also perform many demonic miracles, such as bringing fire down from Heaven, to "prove" that the Antichrist is the Messiah. After that, the Antichrist will force everyone to worship him and take the Mark of the Beast (666) on their hands/foreheads, under the condition that they won't be able to buy and sell goods if they didn't. He will punish those who refuse to participate by persecuting them, jailing them, and executing them in a worldwide genocide. Jews will also be targeted in this genocide, which will be worse than the Holocaust, prompting them to call for Jesus to return.
During the final years of the Tribulation, the Antichrist, along with the False Prophet and several nations, come together in the Battle of Armageddon, which traditionally coincides with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. When Christ comes, he will teamnup with the Mahdi to temporarily stop the Antichrist before the battle of Armageddon. Darkness and more intense natural disasters will be inflicted upon the world as a result; those who took the Mark of the Beast will also be severely crippled by these judgements. Jesus Christ and His armies, consisting of angels, past saints and those who were raptured earlier, will appear in the heavens, prompting the Antichrist and his armies to attack in an intense moment of apocalyptic warfare. Jesus shouts fire from His mouth in time, which destroys the majority of the Antichrist's armies.
The Antichrist, along with the False Prophet and their followers, meet their deserving ends as God throws them into the Lake of Fire, where they burn for eternity. Satan is presumably exorcised from the Antichrist as an angel separately imprisons him in a bottomless pit for 1,000 years. With the Antichrist and the False Prophet gone and Satan imprisoned, Jesus establishes a universal kingdom on Earth, where many people come to worship Him in peace and prosperity for 1,000 years.
In Popular Culture
The enigma and sheer evil of the Antichrist has made him a very popular figure in popular culture. Though the Bible is silent on his background, its common for films, novels, video games, etc. to attempt to explain his background prior to becoming the Antichrist. Most of these speculations frequently involve a creepy child who is evil incarnate and conceived through demonic circumstances (frequently involving Satan or a demonic being raping or having sex with a usually innocent woman).
- American Horror Story - Michael Langdon is the presumed Antichrist of the series. He initially appears in the first season titled "Murder House," where Billie Dean Howard believed that a child born via rape by the Rubber Man would be the Antichrist. This is true and one of his first crimes indicating that he is the Antichrist is brutal senicide. Constance Langdon also remarks how Michael would assure her "greatness" from adversity and tragedy, mirroring how the Antichrist deceptively establishes his satanic empire under the guise of world peace.
- Berserk - Griffith is more of a Dark Messiah as he plays the saviour part to perfection, but still counts as he is an arch-demonic manifestation of god's will who has come back to the physical plane so that he can become a king in the material world as well, and is prophesied to bring about an Age of Darkness which, following the Millennium Falcon arc, he's recently fulfilled.
- BIONICLE - Makuta Teridax in BIONICLE was a cybernetic version of Lucifer himself. He is also considered an enemy of God as he seeks to rain the entire universe in darkness and chaos.
- Black Cat - Creed Diskenth uses nanomachines to become immortal and, as he says it, a "God". His goal? To wipe out all the humans who don't have superpowers and create a society where he and Train Heartnet can rule the "worthy". Too bad Train wants nothing to do with this goal.
- Blazblue - Yuuki Terumi is also considered as an Antichrist as he was an enemy of God as in the story; he betrayed Amatarasu and desired to plunge the world in fear and despair. His true name is Takahaya Susanoo, the brother of Amateratsu and the god of destruction.
- Chrono Crusade - Aion. The antagonist of the anime/manga series, a Sinner and a demon, and also Chrono's twin older brother. He is after all of the Apostles, including Azmaria, for reasons that are unknown until Chrono reveals them. In the manga, his goal is to rebuild the world out of the "system" that binds everyone to their respective roles, he is very intelligent and manipulative while still remaining charismatic to those around him. Throughout the manga, his goals remain ambiguous until the last volume. Although he is the antagonist of the series, he can not easily be classified as "bad", although his views and methods are highly controversial. He is fighting "Pandemonium", the system that maintains the roles that each of his siblings much take. If they were to ever reach a higher domain like himself, they will have learned too much and are disposed of.
- Date A Live - Isaac Ray Peram Westcott is depicted as the real enemy of mankind and the true enemy of God. His desire is to use the power of Spirits ("the Divine Creations of God") in their Inverse Form of the Qliphoth Tree to plunge the whole world into endless chaos, despair, panic, destruction, and fear.
- Elfen Lied - Lucy is a near-literal example because not only is she superpowered but has horns and her name is the female version of Lucifer, a demon, and wants to wipe out the human race and replace it all with her species.
- End of Days - Satan attempts to conceive the Antichrist with Christine York in this 1999 horror/action film. He possesses a banker to use as his vessel to conceive his child and converts followers. A prophecy says that Satan can only be unleashed from Hell every millennium. In the end, he is defeated when he possesses Jericho Cane, who resists the possession and instead impales himself on a sword, and is sent back to Hell.
- Final Space - Ash Graven is the closest the series gets to the Antichrist, as her powers were given by Invictus, the series' analogy to Satan, during the time her sister's sacrifice. Later on, Invictus later turned her into a young adult, manipulating the events like Fox’s death, eventually corrupting her into betraying the Team Squad and setting Invictus free from its prison in Final Space, and like the Antichrist, she never redeemed herself (due to the show’s cancellation).
- Harry Potter - Lord Voldemort serves as the Antichrist throughout the series. He takes over the Ministry of Magic, becoming a key political figure in the Wizarding World, and he corrupts many politicians to follow his rule.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - Dio Brando starts off as this in Phantom Blood, especially with his atrocities at fourteen and his demonic Legions of Hell. While he's more of a Dark Messiah in his followers' eyes, but it's very obvious he's still an Antichrist.
- Left Behind - Nicolae Carpathia is the Antichrist in this series. After three days of being mortally wounded, he is risen by Satan, who immediately indwells him. His false prophet, Leon Fortunato, eventually makes people who are loyal to them take the infamous Mark of the Beast.
- Middle-earth - Ar-Pharazôn fills in this role quite nicely, as he, alongside the false prophet Sauron, commit human sacrifices in the name of Morgoth, the Satan-equivalent of the legendarium, and many of his actions led Eru Ilúvatar, the creator of the universe, to be so infuriated he inflicted his wrath upon all of Númenor, causing the island to sink to the bottom of the ocean. This is reminiscent of the Seventh Bowl Judgment of Revelation, in which God's judgment causes the greatest earthquake the world has ever known to swallow up the islands and cause the mountains to tremble. Ar-Pharazôn is also a political figure because he is the final King of Númenor.
- Monster - Johan Liebert is the twin son of the Leiberts, whose father Michael was an East German trade advisor who defected to the West. He is the "monster" of the title and the principal antagonist of the series. The mystery of his past is the focus of the plot. He is called a monster, the next Adolf Hitler and the devil himself. Johan Liebert was shot in the head as a child when his parents were killed in their home, but saved from death by Dr. Tenma. He claims to love his twin sister Anna, and has some loyalty to her. Johan has spent parts of his life in different places under different names. He possesses charisma and intelligence but is also cunning, manipulative and deceitful; while he is seemingly kind, compassionate and loving to children, he is actually cold, cruel and fundamentally incapable of empathy. He uses his talents to manipulate and corrupt others, often with no apparent end than to cause suffering and destruction. His goal is to kill everyone that knows of his existence. He identifies with other killers, discovering their secrets. After causing the death of Peter Čapek, he orchestrates the Ruhenheim Massacre and has his final encounter with Tenma. When Johan threatens Wim to get Tenma to shoot him, Johan is shot by Wim's drunken father, Herbert. He is flown to a hospital in a helicopter, with the bullet wound treated by Tenma. Comatose, he is visited by Tenma in a police hospital. The final page shows his bed empty, ambiguously suggesting that Johan has escaped the hospital. In Another Monster, which takes place three years after the events of the original manga, Johan is still alive and has rebuilt his life.
- Power of Five - Anthony Horowitz said in interviews that Chaos, the King of the Old Ones is the Antichrist, and that Chaos is based on the Antichrist from the Book of Revelation, as is nearly the whole series.
- Rapture Palooza - Earl Gundy is the Antichrist in this 2014 comedy film. He quickly begins proclaiming himself to be the Beast and will only answer to this name. He seeks vengeance on God and is prepared for Jesus's arrival by the laser cannon he dubs the "You Know Who Buster". This version of the Antichrist is unusual in that the Antichrist and Satan are the same being, just more advanced versions of the same.
- Rosemary's Baby - The unseen main antagonist of the 1968 psychological horror based on the bestselling 1967 novel of the same name by Ira Levin.
- RWBY - Salem was considered as an antichrist due to her hatred towards the Brother Gods in the past. Her hatred also caused her to try her best to divide humanity in order to have the Gods destroyed them along with herself while leaving Remnant in total chaos, fear, despair and destruction.
- Santa's Slay - A supernatural killing entity named Santa Clause serves as the "Anti-christ". He is a spoof off the real Santa Claus, who is a kind elf who gives presents on Christmas. Santa Clause often finds his power nerfed when people pray to Jesus Christ.
- SCP Mythos - Grand Karcist Ion serves as the messiah and deified leader of Sarkicism in the universe of the SCP Foundation. His plan is to take over the Earth/Universe and bring about a new age of flesh, often through conquest and war.
- Stack Columns - Babu is the Antichrist from Austria and the last year's champion of the tournament, as well as Mr. Babu the Dark Messiah and when he loses, the entire Stack Columns universe has been destroyed and referencing how gambling was Haram in Islam.
- Star Wars - Emperor Sheev Palpatine/Darth Sidious is the Antichrist of this franchise. Born from the Dark Side, he gained political control over the Galactic Republic, which he later converted into the tyrannical Galactic Empire, and staged one of its deadliest conflicts to keep himself in power.
- Tales of Arcadia - The Green Knight is the closest the series gets to this. Here, his true identity is King Arthur, and he discriminates against trollkind and leads genocidal campaigns against them, much like the Antichrist does the same to Christians in the Book of Revelation. He is eventually killed by Bellroc, the series' analogy to Satan, and resurrected by her and Skrael to temporarily replace Nari as the third member of the Arcane Order. After being revived as the Green Knight, he plots to help them bring about the end of the world by breaking the Genesis Seals, and just like the Antichrist, is not redeemed.
- The Chronicles of Narnia - Rishda the Tarkaan likely counts as this, whereas Tash can be interpreted as Satan in his Narnian form and Shift the False Prophet. Rishda conspires with Shift in enslaving all of Narnia and enforcing the belief of "Tashlan", that Aslan and Tash are the same beings. He is also the leader of the Calormenes, which are heavily devoted to the worship of Tash. Although Puzzle the donkey was viewed as Aslan due to the skin he was wearing, he was not willing to go along with Shift's plan.
- The Omen - Damien Thorn, the antagonist of the movie and its sequels. This is the most famous depiction of the Antichrist and the idea of the Antichrist as a real figure continues to both terrify and fascinate many people around the world, though some people have begun to question whether or not the Antichrist is a threat that awaits humanity, a threat that has already passed, or even a metaphor rather than a literal being.
- The Owl House - Emperor Belos fits the criteria in a biblical sense. He comes from another world (in this case, the Human World), posing himself as a False Prophet, manipulating and turning the peaceful people of the Boiling Isles into selfish, entitled jerkasses, and rules the Demon Realm by claiming to speak with a godlike entity (the Titan), so he could commit a mass genocide with the Day Of Unity’s plan, which even involves tricking everyone to wear Coven Sigils, similar to the Mark of the Beast. In the finale, once he merges with the Titan’s still beating heart, his Dragon form resembles Satan's form as a dragon, while his true body is posed in a blasphemous parody of Jesus himself when he was crucified in the cross.
- Trigun - Millions Knives probably counts. He wants to wipe out the human race and replace it all with his "plant" kin.
- Xenosaga - Wilhelm. His goal is to brainwash and deceive all humanity with false Christianity and religion in general. He even has many alias that describe him, like Cardinal Heinlein, head of Hyams, and Ormus Patriarch.
Gallery
Trivia
- Most religious texts actually refer to Antichrists as people who deny Jesus as the Messiah and/or actively persecute those who follow him.
- The Whore of Babylon, which the Antichrist initially establishes, is traditionally represented as a sinister prostitute, whose full title is "Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes and Abominations of the Earth", riding on top of a seven-headed beast whilst drinking the blood of martyred saints in a golden cup. The name suggests the spiritual adultery committed by the nations in league with the Antichrist or possibly the overall perversion as well as moral and sexual degeneracy in the Antichrist's empire.
- Many historical figures, often tyrannical and/or controversial leaders, have been accused of being the Antichrist, such as Nero Ceasar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and, more recently, Barack Obama, Anton LaVey, Kim Jong Un (alongside his father and grandfather), and Donald Trump.
- Out of all the mentioned people, LaVey is the only one to identify as a Satanist, albeit an atheistic one.
- Some conspiracy theories predict that the Antichrist will be a member of the Illuminati following the New World Order concept, as the Antichrist is said in the Bible to have a one-world empire.
- Despite his utter evil, it is believed that God planned for the Antichrist's rule to occur to validate Scripture to unbelievers and thus bring them to repentance. It is also possible that the Antichrist's rule is part of God's judgement upon unrepentant sinners by allowing their own transgressions and rabid support of the Antichrist to "consume" them in the process.
- If the Antichrist were to rule the world today, he would wage a war that will claim about 1.5 billion lives, which is about 1/4 of the current population. However, this is only part of the Fourth Seal judgement, one of the only parts of the Bible that directly mention his body count, but considering his numerous wars, genocides, and even murders that he committed for his personal gain (as shown through the murder of the two witnesses) later on, it is very likely that his body count would be much higher than it is listed.
- The Antichrist is the least mentioned of the supernatural entities that are mentioned, trailing behind Lucifer himself, Jesus, and God.