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antichrist

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St. Helens

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I have examined the number of positions of who the antichrist could be. For me Popery is the best fit. Popery tries to pass itself off as Christian and yet lot of things antithetical to Biblical Christianity are performed from that office.
 
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St. Helens

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JM said:
I really dislike Dispensationism but John MacArthur is spot on the Pope and the Papacy.
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You and me both. Dispensationism and all the futurist and conspiracy nonsense the goes along with it leaves a real bad taste in my mouth.
 
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JM

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Here is a definition most Reformers would have used for the Antichirst.

The Term Antichrist: "We shall not go far afield in this discussion: nor is it in the least necessary to do so. The materials for a right decision on the question before us lie close at hand. The Apostle John, speaking of the great apostacy to arise in Christendom, calls it the “Antichrist.” And the Pope has taken to himself, as the name that best describes his office, the title “Vicar of Christ.” All we shall ask as the basis of our argument are these two accepted facts, namely, that John styles the “apostacy,” “the Antichrist,” and that the head of the Roman system styles himself “Christ’s Vicar.”

The Papacy holds in its name the key of its meaning. We shall make use of that key in unlocking its mystery and true character. The Papacy cannot complain though weadopt this line of interpretation. We do nothing more than use the key it has put into our hands. The Apostle John, we have said, speaking of the apostacy, the coming of which he predicts, styles it the “Antichrist.” And we have also said that the Papacy, speaking through its representative and head, calls itself the “Vicar of Christ.” The first, “Antichrist,” is a Greek word, the second, “Vicar,” is an English word; but the two are in reality one, for both words have the same meaning. Antichrist translated into English is vice-Christ, or Vicar of Christ; and Vicar of Christ, rendered into Greek is Antichrist –Antichristos.

If we can establish this –and the ordinary use of the word by those to whom the Greek was a vernacular, isdecisive on the point –we shall have no difficulty in showing that this is the meaning of the word “Antichrist,” –even a Vice-Christ. And if so, then every time the Pope claims to be the Vicar of Christ, he pleads at the bar of the world that he is the “Antichrist.” Moreover, this will clear our way and simplify our discussion. For, let it be noted, if Antichrist signifies a Vice-Christ –that is, one who comes in the room of Christ –deception, dissimulation, counterfeit, must be an essential element in his character. In whatever persons or systems that fundamental characteristic is lacking, we fail to find the “Antichrist,” whatever may be their general opposition to Christ and to Christianity, or whatever other features of the Antichrist they may bear. They may have every othercharacteristic by which prophecy had described this noted adversary of Christ and his gospel, yet, lacking thisfundamental one, their claim to this pre-eminently evil distinction cannot be admitted. This enables us to dismisssummarily and at once a host of Antichrists which have been conjured up by persons who have drawn upon their imagination, rather than followed any sound principle of prophetic interpretation. The cause of the papacy is served by the false glosses and mistaken interpretations of Scripture which interpose a pseudo-antichrist betwixt it and Prophecy, which unfolds against it so black a record, and suspends above it so terrible a doom.

We shall suppose that an atheist or an infidel has been put to the bar to answer to a charge of being the Antichrist. He has manifested a Satanic malignity against the Gospel, and has laboured to the utmost of his power to destroy it. He has blasphemed God, execrated Christ, and derided, vilified, and persecuted all who profess His name, and on these grounds he has been assumed to be the Antichrist. The case is no imaginary one. Atheists and scoffers in former ages, Voltaire and Paine in later times, Communists and Pantheists in our own day, have all been arraigned as the Antichrist. Well, let us suppose that one or other of these notoriously wicked personages or systems has been put to the bar, on the charge of being the“adversary” predicted by John. “Who are you?” says the judge. “Are you aVice-Christ? So you make a profession ofChristianity, and under that pretext seek to undermine and destroy it? “No,” replies theaccused. “I am no counterfeit. Christ and His Gospel I hate; but I am an open enemy, I fight under no mask.” Turning tothe likeness drawn by Paul and John of Christ’s great rival and opponent, and finding the outstanding and essential feature in the portrait absent in the accused, the judge would be constrained to say, “I do not find the charge proven. Go your way; you are not the Antichrist.”

Mohammedanism comes nearer than any other of the opposing systems to the Antichrist of the Bible; yet it falls a long way short of it. Mohamet did not disavow the mission of Jesus; on the contrary, he professed to hold Him in honour as a prophet. And in much the same way do His followers still feel towards Christ. But Islam does not profess to be an imitation of Christianity. Any counterfeit that can be discovered in Mohammedanism is partial and shadowy when placed alongside the bold, sharp-cut counterfeit of Romanism. It requires a violent stretch of imagination to accept Mohammedanism, or, indeed, any other known ism, as a Vice-Christ. Of all systems that ever were on the earth, or are now upon it, Romanism alone meets all the requirements of prophecy, and exhibits all the features of the Vice-Christ; and it does so with a completeness and a truthfulness which enable the man who permits himself to be guided by the statements of the Word of God on the one hand, and the facts of history on the other, to say at once, "This is the Antichrist."

What we have said is meant to indicate the lines on which our demonstration will proceed. We must trace the parallelism betwixt their respective chiefs, Christ and the Pope, along the entire line of their career. In this parallelism lies the essence of Antichristianism, and of course the strength of our argument. It is this counterfeit, so exact and complete, which has misled the world into the belief that this is Christianity, to the waste of ages not a few, the unsettling and overthrow of kingdoms, the stunting of the human understanding, and the loss of millions of immortal souls." J. A. Wylie

It has been said Historicism and this definition of Antichrist is weak because it replies on secular history and histories. This was known to the Reformers and other Historicists and they find the objection odd since all prophecy, including those ssurrounding the first coming of the Messiah, are based on both sacred and profane accounts! (see H. Grattan Guinness, The Approaching End of the Age. I'll see if I can find the direct quote and post it.)

I posted a few links on my blog if anyone is interested.

Nero antichrist? | Feileadh Mor

Calvin on 2 Thess. 2:3, “It was no better than an old wife’s fable that was contrived respecting Nero, that he was carried up from the world, destined to return again to harass the Church by his tyranny; and yet the minds of the ancients were so bewitched, that they imagined that Nero would be Antichrist. Paul, however, does not speak of one individual, but of a kingdom, that was to be taken possession of by Satan, that he might set up a seat of abomination in the midst of God’s temple–which we see accomplished in Popery.”

Gill on 2 Thess. 2:3, “yet the man of sin is here distinguished from Satan, 2Ti_2:9 nor is any particular emperor of Rome intended, as Caius Caligula, or Nero, for though these were monsters of iniquity, and set up themselves as gods, yet they sat not in the temple of God”
Polemics against the idea that Nero was antichrist:

Francis Turretin's 7th Disputation
18 Sermons on 2 Thessalonians
The Papacy is the Antichrist
Westminster and London Baptist Confessions
 
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JM

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Grumman Tomcat said:
You and me both. Dispensationism and all the futurist and conspiracy nonsense the goes along with it leaves a real bad taste in my mouth.
Click to expand...
Bango, bingo.
 
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JM

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stenerson said:
Interesting message I heard yesterday.

.
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I wish I could watch it but don't have time. What does he have to say about Antichrist?

I'm reading The Dictator Pope. It's a behind the scenes look at how the political machine works and how Francis was elected.

It's not a secret. Even devote Catholics admit it.


(I listen to Taylor Marshall's podcast)

jm
 
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stenerson

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I drive for a living and get to hear podcast all day.
He sees the anti-Christ as the ruler of the Beast, a kingdom that dominates the world through it's
military strength.
The apostate false religion embodied by the Papacy is the harlot whom the anti-Christ uses for his purposes then discards.
 
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JM

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That sounds very Protestant, very Reformed.

 
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