Who is the Antichrist?

And What Does the Bible Say About This System?

Who is the Antichrist?  Two of the most common questions regarding Bible prophecy would be who is the Antichrist; or who is the beast of Revelation? There are in fact two beasts found in Revelation chapter 13, and the first is the one that most inquire about as it relates to the mark of the beast.

The fact is that the first beast in Revelation 13 is synonymous with what the Bible describes as the Antichrist, which is not a person, but is in fact an apostate system that has existed for many centuries, and has its roots in literal Babylon.

Scripture symbolizes this apostate system as Babylon of the Old Testament.

The following is a quote by Dave Hunt.

“Anti is a Greek prefix which not only means “opposed to” but it also means “in the place of”.
Antichrist will indeed oppose Christ, but in the most diabolically clever way possible: by pretending to be Christ. For the world to follow and worship him, a false Antichrist “Christianity” must become the world religion—a “Christianity” that all religions can accept, and which embraces all religions into “one faith.”
Hence the necessity for today’s growing apostasy: to create an apostate church to be the Antichrist’s earthly bride, just as the true church is Christ’s heavenly bride. Such is the important role of the New Age movement, and the many accelerating delusions and seductions in these “last days.””

 

Dave Hunt’s teachings on the rapture doctrine are not Scriptural, and are not correct, but his ideas presented in this passage are correct.

Scripture symbolizes this apostate system as Babylon of the Old Testament.

The Scriptures talk of many Antichrist’s, but the Antichrist identified as the little horn of Daniel 7,The Man of Sin of II Thessalonians 2, the sea beast of Revelation 13, and the Harlot of Revelation 17 are all representations of the same system. And this system fulfills both of the requirements for the Greek definition “Anti”. That is that it will not only oppose Christ, but it will also take the place of Christ here on earth.

 

Let’s take a look at the identifying marks of this Antichrist System known as the Little Horn which are given to us by the Scriptures.

 

1) This system is called a beast in prophecy, and a beast in prophecy is a Kingdom, a government, or a political power. (Daniel 7:17,23)  But this system is different to all the others as it is both a Kingdom, that is a political power, and it is also a Church, which also confirms that Antichrist will not be an individual person, but a political entity. This system is identified by the Papacy which is a Church system, but it is also a recognized political system as it has a seat in the United Nations.The Antichrist

Note: A horn in prophecy is a King or kingdom (Daniel 7:24; 8:5, 21-22, Zechariah 1:18-19, Revelation 17:12)

2) The little horn arises out of the fourth beast, that is the dragon beast which represents Rome; so it must be a Roman power. Daniel 7:8,24.

3) It arises after the 10 horns or the 10 divisions of Rome were established. Daniel 7:8,24

4) It arises among the 10 horns/divisions of Rome which we now know as western Europe in the year 476 A.D. Daniel 7:8

5) As it arises it plucks up 3 horns by the roots, that is that it exterminated 3 kingdoms of western Rome, Daniel 7:8,24

“The three horns were the Heruli, Vandals and the Ostrogoths. All three held to the doctrine of Arianism and were vehemently opposed to the Papacy and were obstructing it from rising to full supremacy. Odoacer, king of the Heruli, took the throne of Italy in 476 A.D.” Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol 4, chapter 36, pg 58.
The Antichrist
The Heruli were an oppressing power to the Papacy and thus needed to be removed. Zeno, emperor of the East, and a friend of the pope, was anxious to drive Odoacer out of Italy. Machiavelli, pg 6.

This he saw done by Theodoric who had taken the throne of the Ostrogoths, and was on friendly terms with him. Theodoric wrote a letter to Zeno asking permission to take his Goths to some more favourable region, which they might conquer and possess. Zeno gave permission to march against Odoacer and take possession of Italy. The war lasted 3 years until in 493 A.D. the Heruli were overthrown and Odoacer treacherously slain. At this time we think it appropriate to quote from Machiavelli’s History of Florence, pg 14;

Nearly all the wars which the northern barbarians carried on in Italy, it may be here remarked, were occasioned by the pontiffs; and the hordes with which the country was inundated, were generally called in by them.

So, though the hands of the Roman pontiffs might not be visibly manifest in the movements upon the political board, they constituted the power working assiduously behind the scenes to secure their own purposes.

The Vandals were the second to be uprooted. In 533 A.D. Emperor Justinian, who ruled from Constantinople in the east, decreed that the Bishop of Rome was the Universal Bishop over the entire church (today the Pope remains the universal bishop over the Roman Catholic Church by reason of this decree). But the Catholics were suffering a violent persecution from the Arian Vandals of northern Africa. They were intolerant of the Catholics and termed them heretics. Thus unless they could be removed the Papacy could not rise to the power of Justinian’s decree. Justinian sent his ablest General Belisarius to north Africa and totally wiped the Vandals from the face of the earth in the year 534 A.D., thus uprooting the second horn.

This only left the Arian tribe of the Ostrogoths, who had the throne of Italy and were restraining the power of the Papacy. They too were defeated by Belisarius in the year 538 A.D., leaving not enough of them to have their heritage remain. Justinian’s decree could take effect now as the three horns of opposition had been removed (Heruli, Vandals, and the Ostrogoths). The Papacy now had full supremacy, 538 A.D. Find more here at Daniel Bible Prophecy 

6) It speaks great/pompous words against the Most High. Daniel 7:25. Revelation 13:6; 17:3 confirms that these great words are blasphemies against the most high. Blasphemies are identified in Mark 2:5-7 where a mere man claims the prerogatives of God, and presumes to forgive sins as the Roman Catholic Priest’s do. And also John 10:30-33: Where a mere man calls himself God, as the Popes do.

Claims to forgive sins.

And God Himself is obliged to abide by the judgment of His priest and either not to pardon or pardon, according as they refuse to give absolution, provided the penitent is capable of it.” Duties and Dignities of the Priest, by Ligouri, pg 27.
Were the Redeemer to descend into a church, and sit in a confessional to administer the sacrament of penance, and a priest to sit in a confessional, Jesus would say over each penitent, ‘ego te absolvo”, the priest would likewise say over each of his penitents, ‘ego te absolvo’, and the penitents of each would be equally absolved.” Ibid., pg 34.
The priest does not only declare that the sinner is forgiven, but he really forgives him…so great is the power of the priest, that the judgments of heaven itself are subject to his decision.” The Catholic Priest, by Michael Meuller, Kreuzer Bros., 1876.

Making himself God: 

The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God…the Pope is as it were the vicar of God on earth…Chief king of kings, having plentitude of power.” Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica Juridiea Moralis Theoloogica, by Lucii Ferraris.
All names which in the scripture are applied to Christ, by virtue of which it is established that He is over the church, all the same names are applied to the Pope.” On the Authority of Councils, 1619 ed., book 2, Ch 17.
We hold upon this earth the place of God almighty.” The Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, pg 304.
But the supreme teacher in the church is the Roman Pontiff. Union of minds, therefore requires, together with a perfect accord in the one faith, complete submission and obedience of the will to the church and to the Roman Pontiff, as to God Himself.” Ibid.

7) Would persecute the saints of the most high: Daniel 7:21,25: Revelation 17:6 “…drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus…” (Rev 17:6) He would persecute the Saints of the Most High. The Saints are also identified as the woman who fled into the wilderness in Revelation 12:6. This power is an established church which persecutes the true church of God. All throughout history, the greatest enemies of God’s people have been those who professed to be followers of God.

It began with Cain and Abel: Cain claimed to serve the true God, but he hated his brother and slew him. In the Old Testament those who hated the prophets were the very nation who  claimed to serve God. Jesus Christ was crucified by those who claimed to serve God, and during the Middle Ages God’s true people were persecuted by a church that claimed to serve him, and Jesus says in the end time in John chapter 16:2 that the time is coming when those who persecute you will think that they’re doing God a favor, so there’s nothing new Under the Sun. In other words this power would be a church that would persecute God’s true people, and we will notice that it was during a very specific period of 1260 years.

The AntichristThe Papacy is well known for its persecution of so called heretics. Pope Gregory XIII executed a plot in which he killed 70,000 in one day on St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre in France, 24th August 1572. In July 1209, 60,000 Albigenses slaughtered at Beziers. On the 24th April 1655, 18,000 Waldenses were killed. 1,000,000 Waldenses perished in France. 900,000 orthodox Christians were slain in less than thirty years after the institution of the order of the Jesuits. The inquisition destroyed, by various tortures, 150,000 within thirty years.

…it is estimated by careful historians that more than fifty millions of the human family have been slaughtered for the crime of heresy by Popish persecutors, an average of more than forty thousand religious murders for every year of the existence of Popery.” History of Romanism, Dr J Dowling pgs 541-542.
The Catholic Church…loudly proclaims that she has a horror of blood. Nevertheless when confronted by heresy she…has recourse to force, to corporal punishment, to torture. She creates tribunals like those of the inquisition…encourages a crusade or a religious war…especially did she act thus in the sixteenth century with regards to Protestants…she lit in Italy the Low Countries and above all in Spain the funeral fires of the inquisition. In France…and in England…she tortured the heretics whilst both in France and Germany…she encouraged and aided, the religious wars. No one will deny that we have a great scandal to our contemporaries…Indeed even among our friends and our brothers we find those who dare not look this problem in the face. They ask permission from the church to ignore or even deny all those acts and institutions of the past which have made orthodoxy compulsory.” The Catholic Church, the Renaissance and Protestantism, Professor Alfred Baudrillart, London, 1908 pgs 182-184. (He was rector of the Catholic Institute of Paris and later was made a Cardinal).

Even so, the Papacy still justifies her position:

…that the church of Rome possesses the supremacy of both powers, the spiritual and the temporal, that she has the right to employ both swords in the extirpation of heresy; that in the exercise of this right she has never exceeded by a hairs breadth her just prerogatives and that what she has done aforetime she may do in time to come as often as occasion shall require and opportunity may serve.” Encyclical Quanta Cura (Syllabus of Errors) 1864, Pope Pius IX.

8) This system will think to change times and Law. Daniel 7:25:The Antichrist

The pope has the power to change times, to abrogate laws, and to dispense with all things, even the precepts of Christ. He can pronounce sentences and judgments in contradiction to the rights of nations, to the law of God and man.” Decretalia de translat. Ep Cop. Cap.
The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.” The Catholic Mirror, Sept 23 1893.
You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we (Catholics) never sanctify.” James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers, pg 111.
Question : What Bible authority is there for changing the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week? Who gave the Pope the authority to change a command of God?
Answer : If the Bible is the only guide for the Christian, then the Seventh-day Adventist is right in observing the Saturday with the Jew. But Catholics learn what to believe and do from the divine, infallible authority established by Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church…Is it not strange that those who make the Bible their only teacher should inconsistently follow in this matter the tradition of the Church?” Question Box, by Conway, 1903 edition, pgs 254-255.
Question : Which is the Sabbath day?
Answer : Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Question : Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
Answer : We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (336 A.D.), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.” Peter Geiermann, The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, Second Edition, 1910, pg 50.

It is interesting to note that the Catholic Church has removed the second Commandment from her doctrinal books and catechisms, because it condemns the worship of images. Thus they split the tenth Commandment into two so as to still have Ten Commandments. See Catholic change to the Ten Commandments and who changed the Sabbath to Sunday or the Sabbath to Sunday change.

The Antichrist9) He would reign for a time, times, and the dividing/half a time. Daniel 7:25: This is the same time that the woman fled into the wilderness in Revelation 12. One thousand two hundred and three score days. The Papacy rose out of the fourth beast within the 10 divisions of the western Roman empire in 476 A.D., and it rose to full supremacy in 538 A.D. where it took control of the secular authority of the Roman Empire and held onto the reins until the year 1798 when General Berthier rode into Vatican City deposing the Pope, and placing him in exile in France where he was to die.

Revelation 13:1-2 directly links to Daniel 7. The four beast powers with the dragon that has seven heads and ten horns. and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat/throne, and great authority.

Revelation chapter 13 and verse 6 says:

“And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.”

And notice Revelation 13 verse 5 it says:

“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.”

Now the 42 months is the same time period as the 1260 days and the time, times, and dividing of times, which is three and a half years. The biblical month has 30 days; so 42 months X 30 days each month is 1260 days. Which is the same time period as the “time, times and dividing of time” (Daniel 7:25) of the little horn, and the 1260 days that the woman flees into the wilderness, (Revelation 12:6) so these prophecies are all parallel.

10) It is a power that will receive a deadly wound, that is it will lose the power of the sword which is the civil power that it used to persecute the Saints of the most high. As we have seen, the Papacy rose to full supremacy in 538 A.D., identifying mark number 5, and it came to its end exactly 1260 years later in 1798 A.D. when Napoleon’s General Berthier, under orders from the French ruler, marched into Rome and took Pope Pius VI prisoner, thus taking from the Vatican it’s political or temporal power.

11) The Number of this Power is “666”. Revelation 13:17-18. That is his name must add up to 666. It must be Latin as it is the natural language of Rome, and it must be a blasphemous name.

One of the official titles of the Pope, Vicarius Filii Dei or “Vicar of the Son of God,” is at times disputed by Catholic theologians, but can be verified in papal canons and other Catholic publications.

Catholic F. Lucii Ferraris, in his Latin encyclopedia called Prompta Bibliotheca canonica juridica moralis theologica said this:

Ut sicut Beatus Petrus in terris vicarius Filii Dei fuit constitutus, ita et Potifices eius successores in terris principatus potestatem amplius, quam terrence imperialis nostræ serenitatis mansuetudo habere videtur (emphasis added).

The English translation is as follows:

As the blessed Peter was constituted Vicar of the Son of God on earth, so it is seen that the Pontiffs, his successors, hold for us and our empire the power of a supremacy on the earth greater than the clemency of our earthly imperial serenity.

Our Sunday Visitor, a Jesuit publication, published two admissions that Vicarius Filii Dei is in fact a title for the pope—on November 15, 1914, and April 18, 1915. The November 15, 1914, issue, as shown in the picture, tells us this:

The Antichrist

The title of the Pope of Rome is Vicarius Filii Dei. This is inscribed on his mitre; and if you take the letters of his title (printed large) and add them together they come to 666…add these together and the total will be 666.

Note what our Protestant forefathers had to say about Vicarius Filii Dei:

Dr. Henry Grattan Guinness, in Babylon and the Beast, said this:

An English officer of high rank, who in 1799 by a special favor, was given the special opportunity, while in Rome, to get a close look at the Pope’s jewels and precious things, discovered thereby, that the papal tiara bore this inscription: ‘Vicarivs Filii Dei.’

When you take out the Latin letters, which have a numerical value, and which still are used to represent numbers, of which are: V, I, C, L, and D, these letters form the number given below.In these Latin words there, are two V’s, which letter denotes 5, six I’s denoting 1, one C which denotes 100, one L, which denotes 50, and one D, which denotes 500, thus, V,V=10; I,I,I,I,I,I=6; C=100; L=50; and D=500, the sum 666.

Richard Cunningham Shimeall (1803 – 1874), wrote this in his book Our Bible Chronology:

It is to be observed as a singular circumstance, that the title vicarius filii dei (Vicar of the Son of God), which the Popes of Rome have assumed to themselves, and caused to be inscribed over the door of the Vatican, exactly makes the number 666, when deciphered with the numeral signification of its constituent letters…

Many in the Protestant Church today would wish to apply the number 666 to the whole of humanity rather than the Papacy specifically. But if both Catholics and Protestants agree on the title, and even the Jesuits—the society sworn to protect the Pope at any cost—confirmed the title and number twice in their own publication, can we doubt its validity?

 

VICARIUS FILII DEI

 

THE LITERAL MEANING: VICARIUS – substituting for, or in place of
FILII – means son
DEI – means GOD

 

This is indeed a blasphemous name

From the Roman Catholic Publication “Our Sunday Visitor” 

“The letters inscribed in the Pope’s mitre are these: Vicarius Filii Dei, which is the Latin for the Vicar of the Son of God. Catholics hold that the church which is a visible society must have a visible head. Christ, before His ascension into heaven, appointed St. Peter to act as His representative. Upon the death of Peter the man who succeeded to the office of Peter as Bishop of Rome, was recognized as the head of the Church. Hence to the Bishop of Rome, as head of the Church, was given the title ‘Vicar of Christ.'” (View the original article Page 1Page 2Page 3)

Count the Number of His Name 

The Bible indicates that we should count the number of his name. See the chart below:

V = 5
I = 1
C = 100
A = 0
R = 0
I = 1
U = 5*
S = 0
= 0
I = 1
L = 50
I = 1
I = 1
D = 500
E = 0
I = 1
112
53
501
112 53 501 TOTALS = 666

 

12) Began small but grew greater and more arrogant than his fellows. Daniel 7:8,20

The Papacy began as a church in the city of Rome. A member of the sisterhood of Christian churches around the world, and the bishop or elder of the city of Rome, was no more important than the bishops in any other major city, including Jerusalem, Antioch, or Alexandria. However, by 538 A.D. the Papacy was no longer just a little church, it was a controlling political force that ruled over the kings and queens of Europe. An example of the Pope’s power is seen in the experience of Pope Gregory VII in 1076, when he informed the subjects of Henry IV, emperor of Germany, that due to Henry’s disloyalty to the Papal See, they were under no obligation to obey him. Henry was the most powerful monarch in Europe at the time, but he nonetheless made a pilgrimage to Cannosa in the Alps, where the Pope was residing, and waited three painful days, barefoot in the snow, until Pope Gregory forgave him. It is of note that those who supported the Papacy were to be found in all nations, instead of owing allegiance only within one nation’s boundaries. Find more here at Daniel Bible Prophecy.

The Antichrist13) Is arrayed in purple and Scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones. Revelation 17:4

Purple and scarlet colour and decked with gold – Compare also Revelation 18:12,16-17. Old Testament priest robes were made of “gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet.” (Exodus 28:3-6) The borders of the priest robes were to have a fringe of blue and when they looked upon the ribb of blue, they were to remember all the Commandments of the Lord. Blue symbolizes God’s Commandments and is the colour of sapphire as God’s throne from which His law was cut. (Numbers 15:38-39; Ezekiel chapter 1 etc)

The Papal priest robe colours are also gold, purple and scarlet as per the great whore. And the colour blue is missing from the Papal Church as per the great whore. Scarlet represents sin, and it is the colour of the beast, (transgressing God’s law; I John 3:4) the missing colour blue represents the law of God. Discover more at Revelation Bible Prophecy.

 

The Antichrist14) The woman Is seated upon seven mountains. Revelation 17:4-6,9

“And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.” Revelation 17:9

Mountains – A common prophetic symbol designating political or religio-political powers. (see Isaiah 2:2-3; Jeremiah 17:3; 31:23; 51:24, 25; Ezekiel 17:22-23; etc)

The number seven represents totality, or completeness.  (See Genesis 2:1-4 Psalms 119:164 and Exodus 20:8-11 Daniel 3:19 Revelation 1:13,16,20 for just a few of the examples.)

The AntichristA harlot woman in prophecy represents a corrupt, or apostate Church (Ezekiel 16:15-58; 23:2-21, Hosea 2:5; 3:1, Revelation 14:4)

So this woman is an apostate church which is seated upon all the political and religious organisations of the world. The number seven confirms that this is world wide and that she will rule over all organisations, political and religious.

This symbol may also be an allusion to the city of Rome with its seven hills. Classical writers often refer to Rome as the City of Seven Hills. In the early centuries Christians commonly referred to Rome as “Babylon” (see 1 Peter 5:13; Revelation 14:8) probably to avoid being considered as subversives when they spoke and wrote concerning Rome’s anti-Christian activities and the impending judgments of God upon her. In view of the historical relationship of ancient Babylon to the people of God in Old Testament times, the term “Babylon” as applied to Rome in its relations with Christianity was appropriate.

15) The woman is that great city which reins over the kings of the earth. Revelation 17:18

The AntichristThat great city – Literal Babylon was the “great city” of ancient times. From the days of Babel the city of Babylon has been representative of organized opposition to the purposes of God on earth. (Genesis 11:4-6; Revelation 14:8) A city is a highly organized and integrated association of human beings. Hence how appropriate is “Babylon the great” as a prophetic symbol for the organized, universal apostate religious organization that we know in our times, as the Roman Catholic Church.