Falwell announced the Antichrist

Rev. Jerry

On Thursday, January 14, 1999, Rev. Jerry Falwell announced the Antichrist is probably alive today and is a male Jew! He was speaking to a group of 1,500 people at a conference in Kingsport, TN, at the Thomas Road Baptist Church. His message was carried on television nationwide. . . .

The American Jewish Congress responded by saying that this declaration that anti-Christ is Jewish will have "an inevitably incendiary and degrading effect on Christian attitudes towards Jews" (PRNews wire). It was further pointed out that history teaches that such preaching of "arcane Christian theological concepts" inevitably affect Christian attitudes towards Jews. "It is therefore gets harder and harder to credit Falwell's frequent professions of love for Jews when he allows himself such predictably corrosive comments," says AJC.

Because The American Jewish Congress' main concern, of course, was that such a proclamation of a Jewish anti-Christ inspires anti-Semitism, they politely declined, "We do not intend to instruct Falwell in Christian doctrine."

A Counterfeit

This is where we would like to pick up. . . .What does Christian doctrine teach about the anti-Christ? Falwell is right about one thing: Anti-Christ is a counterfeit of the true Christ. "Anti" means "in place of" ["anti," opposite, i.e., instead of, in the room of," EXHAUSTIVE CONCORDANCE OF THE BIBLE.

But the Apostle Paul taught us about the anti-Christ, the "man of sin," "the mystery of iniquity," which was already developing in his day! (2 Thessalonians 2:1-7) Apostle John also said, "And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world" (1 John 4:3). Already the apostasy of the anti-Christ was growing in the early church!

Anti-Christ is not an 'Anti-Jesus'

If the Apostles had warned us to look for an anti-Jesus, we might have looked for a single person. But who is Christ? "Christ" means anointed. "Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God" (2 Corinthians 1:21). The church is the part of the anointed body of Christ with Jesus as her head:

"So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another" (Romans 12:5)

"Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?" (1 Corinthians 6:15)<!Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it." (1 Corinthians 12:27) . . . . .and many more. . . .

Therefore, anti-Christ would be a counterfeit of both Jesus and his Church! What do we find happening in the early church that would help identify this "anti-Christ"? The spirit of clergy-laity was developing, the spirit of worldliness, the spirit of compromise. The fundamental doctrine of Christianity shortly was replaced. Instead of "Christ died once for all," the "sacrifice of the mass" was instituted. One was obliged to go to a priest to "receive" this necessary communion of forgiveness for sin. This mass is not a symbol. It is claimed to be the actual body and blood of Christ sacrificed over and over and over again.

Protestants Have Already Found Anti-Christ

Not many Protestants realize this claim. But for 300 years Protestants had identified the anti-Christ as the Papacy because of this fundamental error--as well as other false claims.

The church was to wait for Jesus' return to set up a Kingdom. But Christians grew weary of waiting as a "Bride" for the return of Christ Jesus. So the church "married" the kings of earth. To be specific, this union began in the fourth century when the Christian Church "married" the Emperor Constantine's Roman Empire. Gradually the Church became the dominant partner. Christ's Kingdom had come! The Holy Roman Empire. No, it was a counterfeit Kingdom. The anti-Christ had come. The Protestant Reformation attempted to correct not only the abuses of the Church, but also some of its fundamental doctrinal errors.

What since then changed everybody's mind about what or who is anti-Christ? During the Counter Reformation, a Catholic Jesuit priest made the announcement that there was an anti-Christ still to come--and that he was a man. It is understandable that a Catholic might take such a position. But what is incredibly amazing is that Protestants bought the idea. Francisco Ribera, a Spanish priest, proposed an individual anti-Christ person. In the nineteen century John Darby, who founded the Plymouth Brethren in England and Ireland, picked up on this idea of a future individual anti-Christ. His idea became very popular after World War II--and ever since this has been the thinking of a large segment of the Protestant community!

The Anti-Christ in Action

Yes, the anti-Christ has come--a system that began to work in the Apostles' day. It has been identified and "revealed" (2 Thessalonians 2:8) for what is. . . .and consequently it has largely lost its once great power held for centuries. But other prophecies indicate that before the returned Jesus Christ will finally eliminate the anti-Christ, the anti-Christ will briefly assume some of its old-time power.

Instead of looking for Falwell's anti-Christ, we would do well to watch closely the real anti-Christ in action today. Instead of looking for a "male Jew," we should be looking at the counterfeit Gentile system that has long misrepresented the Christ and his Kingdom.