For all the coverage in movies, television shows, books, and sermons, the antichrist gets surprisingly little space in the Christian New Testament. Popular conservative / evangelical theology paints a detailed picture of the mysterious being who will appear at the end ot time to mimic and challenge Jesus Chris before his second coming. According to an evangelical reading of the bible, the antichrist os the "man of sin" who, along with his sidekick the "false prophet" wool rule over a ten kingdom federation of nations that will introduce worldwide governmental control, forcing all who wish to "buy or sell" or receive the "mark of the beast" on their hand or forehead. His mystical number is 666.
Although the antichrist will eventually be corralled at he Battle of Armageddon and the return of Christ, many conservative students of the prophecy believe that he will first deceive the nations of the earth. This deception will occur during the seven year period of tribulation following g the "rapture" or "snatching away" of the faithful who are still living "at the sound of the trumpet" of God. Following their disappearance, the antichrist will deceive the nations, causing three and a half years of peace, followed by three and a half years of deception and warfare called the great tribulation. then Christ will return at the second coming and destroy him and the false prophet. Satan, the power behind the antichrist, will be imprisoned for a thousand years - " the millennium", during which the earth will be recycled for use during a time of peace when, according to Isaah 11:6, " the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat... and a little child will lead them". Although his destruction is predetermined, Satan will be given a brief time to live following his release. But, along with the antichrist and his false prophet, the devil is doomed to failure.
This view of coming attractions begins only with four short verses in the Bible, all found in 1 and 2 John, in which the antichrist is depicted as "a spirit (that) shall come". This spirit will "deny the father.... and is a deceiver." John even says that "there are many antichrists". These verses are the only ones in which the word antichrist appears in Christian scripture. The rest of the story comes from interpretations based on differing opinions coaxed out of the book of Revelation, perhaps the most disputed book in the New Testament.
Although he wasn't the first, Hal Lindsey was certainly the most popular exponent of antichrist lore. His book The late Great Planet Earth sold millions of copies and led the way for the best-selling Left Behind series of novel by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, which occupied the top of the fiction charts beginning in the mid 1990's.
Antichrist is a modern phenomenon. There is no tradition of antichrist legend, except for the occasional labeling of perceived enemies as "antichrist" when disagreements arose. This fact does not deter modern writers. They point to Daniel 12:9-10: "these things will be seal up until the time of the end.... but who are wise will understand." Because "those who are wise" - that is, conservative / evangelical Christians - are beginning to understand the "truth" about the antichrist that is proof that we are living in "the time of the end" when "all these things must come to pass."
People have long tried to decipher the mysterious sign of the antichrist, the number 666. Some, using the form of numerology called gematria, have assigned numerical values o the letters to derive the number 666 by adding up the values if the letters in certain words, names, or phrases. For example, the Greek work Lateinos for "Latin Kingdom", referring to the Roman Catholic Church, adds up to 666 using this formula. During the 1970's, when Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was engaged in his "shuttle diplomacy" between Egypt and Israel, it was discovered that his last name, through a Formula in which A = 1x6, B = 2x6, C = 3x6, etc., added up to 666. This conclusion was presented by some as "proof" that Kissinger was designing the Middle East peace treaty that would usher in the prophesied time of deception and prepare the way for antichrist and one-world government. Later, some observers wondered if the birthmark on the forehead of Mikhail Gorbachev, general secretary and president of the USSR, was the "mark of the beast," which might point to him as a potential antichrist candidate.
Since then new candidates have appeared from time to time. When Ronald Reagan was the president of the United States, for example, some wondered if his legendary communication skills might mask an evil purpose. They pointed out that his name, Ronald Wilson Reagan, consisted of three sets of six letters. Was he the legendary 666? His death, which has not yet been followed by a resurrection, seems to have quieted most of the speculation.
Following the field of eschatology (end times theology) required a breadth of biblical knowledge. Some popular Bible teachers, such as Hal Lindsey, string together events from Genesis to Revelation. Single verses from separate book of the Bible are placed out of their local context into a bigger scheme. Because so many people don't have extensive Biblical knowledge, it is sometimes easy to persuade them of the truth of the story without mentioning that the only references to the antichrist by name are found in 1 John 2:18, 2:22, and 4:3 and in 2 John 7.
