I will show you who the beast (antichrist) is by the word of God. Please pull out your bible and read these verses for yourself. DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT!
Ok, to get this started i need to give you some background on where the book of Revelation takes place. The apostle John has been imprisoned on the isle of Patmos by the emperor Domitian in a.d. 95 and kept there for eighteen months. The isle of Patmos is located in the Aegean Sea about thirty miles southwest of Miletus (Malta). It is approximately ten miles long and six miles wide. It consists mostly of volcanic hills and rocky ground. Johns revelation came to him in A.D.96. This is very important to remember. Where everybody "misses it" is because they don't take this into consideration when they read about the antichrist. So, there are two things VERY important to remember in all this . they are that Johns revelation takes place in 96 A.D. and that Johns native tongue and language is Araimac. So we go to revelation where John sees a beast and the Angel then tells him what he saw.
Revelation chapter 13
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
OK, verse 18 is where it says the beast is the number of a man......
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
And in these verses we start figuring out from the hints the bible gives who this antichrist is....
Rev 17:8-13
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
Ok, lets look at verse 8 again and we are keeping in mind that it is A.D 96.
8 The beast that thou sawest was,( BEFORE AD 96) and is not; (NOT IN AD 96)and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit,( SOMETIME AFTER AD96) and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Here is the New international version of verse 8.
8The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.
Lets use an example.
Say that after having a revelation of seeing this beast today on October the 30th, 2004. An Angel comes to you to explain it.
He says the beast that you saw was at one time before today, but yet isn't alive today, but in the future he will come out of the bottomless pit.. In otherwords...he was, is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit. If you don't get the importance of the date here, then you won't get anything else.
Do you all understand what i am saying so far? I can't stress enough how important the date is.
SO THE ANTICHRIST HAS TO HAVE LIVED BEFORE 96 A.D.
I'll add more later after you absorb this.