the anti-christ is already hereSabio said:The problem is that you won't recognize the antichrist when he comes. He will be a great statesman to the politically minded, a peacemaker to those who seek an end to war, the seeming fulfillment of the messiah to the Jews. You say yuk now, but you and the world will embrace him when he appears...
Sabio
Antichrist means against or instead of Christ. The term applies to all who deny what the Bible says about Jesus Christ, all who oppose his Kingdom, and all who mistreat his followers. It also includes individuals, organizations, and nations that falsely claim to represent Christ or that improperly ascribe to themselves the role of Messiah
1 John 2:18: "Young children, it is the last hour, and, just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now there have come to be many antichrists; from which fact we gain the knowledge that it is the last hour."
2 John 7: "Many deceivers have gone forth into the world, persons not confessing Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist." (Notice that the "many antichrists" of 1 John 2:18 are here referred to collectively as "the antichrist."
1 John 4:3: "Every inspired expression that does not confess Jesus does not originate with God. Furthermore, this is the antichrists inspired expression which you have heard was coming, and now it is already in the world." (That was written near the end of the first century C.E.)
1 John 2:18: "Even now there have come to be many antichrists; from which fact we gain the knowledge that it is the last hour." (By "last hour" John evidently meant the end of the apostolic period. The other apostles had died, and John himself was very old.)