Greetings Norio, glad to see you active on this thread.
Originally posted by Norio Hayakawa
Nice try. Many Christians, however, do seem to believe tha the Anti-Christ will arise from the "revived" form of the Roman Empire, such as the
present-day European Union. There was a time back in 1988 when I thought that King Juan Carlos of Spain would be the Anti-Christ. Nice try, then,
too.
Yes I believe the EU represents the best fit for the revived Roman empire of Daniel and Revelations. However I believe the devil keeps many irons on
the fire so to speak in trying to build his antichrist kingdom. It is unlikely that even the devil knows the precise details and timing since these
were not even revealed to Jesus while he was on earth.
I might however suggest another one of the devils threads in forming the antichrist, and that is the rise of a muslim dictator, the imam mahdi or
great caliph. About half of the former Roman empire is under muslim dominion and demographics suggest that within 50 years europe will be largely
muslim, a muslim nation with a sophisticated nuclear army. Also interesting is the fact that the prophecies concerning the mahdi eerily fit the
christian antichrist, including a 7 year covenant with Israel! I strongly recommend christians get an overview of this scholarly work.
answering-islam.org.uk...
But I believe that here is the answer: We will never know who the Anti-Christ will be because, according to most biblical interpretations, the
Anti-Christ will reveal himself to the public (such as through global media) only immediately after the "believers" (if you or I are one of them)
are supernaturally "removed" from this earth when that time comes.
This is the pre-trib rapture teaching, which I believe is in error. But in fact addressing your point 2 Thess 2, which directly discussing the timing
of the Lords return and the revealing of the antichrist says the exact opposite of this. Please note,
1Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, 2not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by
some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. 3Don't let anyone deceive you in any
way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness[a] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
The passage concerns the gathering of the saints to the Lord (rapture) in v1.
In verse 3 we learn that the gathering day (= day of the Lord) can not happen until the man of lawlessness (antichrist) is revealed. Later in this
passage we learn exactly how he is revealed.
Verse 4 says,
4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming
himself to be God.
Thus he is revealed during the abomination of desolation event in the rebuilt temple. Students of prophecy know that this happens in the middle of
the 7 year tribulation period.
Further signs of the antichrist are revealed in v9.
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, 10and in
every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11For this reason God
sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have
delighted in wickedness.
So there will be a lot of false antichrist miracles. This chapter should be studied carefully. It is one of the chief reasons why I believe pre-trib.
rapture is unbiblical. It can not happen until some time during the last 3 1/2 years of tribulation.