2."Who is
the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is the antichrist who denies the Father and the Son."
1John
2:22
3."And every spirit that severs Jesus, is not of GOD, but is of antichrist of whom you have heard that he is coming, and
now is already in the world."
1John 4:3.
4."For many deceivers
have gone forth into the world who do not confess Jesus as the Christ coming in
the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist."
2John 1:7.
There you have it. Antichrist
is mentioned only four times in Scripture and only in two Epistles of Saint
John. Antichrist is not mentioned at all in the book
of Revelation, as some seem to believe.
In those four verses Saint John
tells us not only who Antichrist is, but also who he
could not be.
Elucidation:
1. At the time of writing of John's Epistles, many antichrists already existed,
1John 2:18.
Heresies
existed from the very beginning and with them were the heretics who lied,
deceived, and severed Jesus. Two of the main heresies in the first century were
the Simonians who denied the humanity of Christ, and the Cerenthians who denied
the divinity of Christ. In the second century more than 14 new heresies sprang
up, further severing the Body of Christ. As the centuries wore on, older
heresies died out and new ones sprang up to take their place. There have been
heresies in every century and some are recycled such as Jehovah's witnesses who
again deny the divinity of Christ.
2. Antichrist is
a liar and denies that Jesus is the Christ, and he also denies the Father and
the Son,
1John 2:22.
Yes, as I have pointed out in the first item, there
was the denial of Jesus in His divinity, and in His humanity. Over the
centuries, there were some denials of both by a single
heresy.
3. Antichrist is the one who severs Jesus,
1John 4:3.
As previously discussed, but the severance of Jesus today is
worse than ever, as we shall see shortly.
4. Antichrist is a deceiver who denies that Jesus is the
Christ and has come in the flesh,
2John 1:7
It is happening today in a big
way.
In summary:
There are many antichrists, even in
the time of Saint John, and they are liars, and deny that Jesus is the Christ.
They sever Him. They deceive and deny that He came in the flesh. There is
another word which fits all of these parameters perfectly. It is the Heretic the
fomenter of Heresy.
Conclusions:
1. Antichrist could not possibly be the Pope
since he meets none of the qualifications. The Pope has never denied that Jesus
is the Christ, has never denied the Father and Son, and he has never severed
Jesus.
For those of you who say the Pope is antichrist, the onus is upon you to prove what you charge,
and you must provide genuine historical documents to back up what you say.
Therefore, just who CANNOT be antichrist as shown
by Holy Scripture?
2. Now, anyone who calls Jesus Christ a
liar, has denied Him, 1John 5:10. Anyone who does not believe what He said,
therefore, denies Him, as they have called Him a liar. What He said is recorded
in Holy Scripture as we all know. Take a look here and you will see many verses in Scripture
which are denied by non-Catholics today. The statistical evidence is there; it
cannot be denied. Therefore, you tell me, Just Who Is
Antichrist?
3. Now who severs Jesus? He commanded that
there be one fold and one shepherd in John 10:16. How many deny these words of
His and sever His Body into ever smaller pieces? In 1981 there were about 20,780
splits in the Body of Christ among non-Catholics. Today there are over 33,800
non-Catholic ecclesial communities, as documented in the World Christian
Encyclopedia, April 2001 edition. That is an increase of 65% in the severing of
the body of Christ in just 20 years. That works out to a rate of over 125%
increase every 40 years at the present rate of splitting.
Here are the very
words of Jesus, "He who is not with me is against me, and he
who does not gather with me scatters." Matthew 12:30
What could Jesus
have said to be more clear than what He said here? The severing of His body tens
of thousands of times is certainly not "gathering" is it? So He says to
"gather", but
non-Catholics are scattering by their incessant creation of yet more and more
splits of His Body. It is all too obvious that scattering is "against me" as He said, and being against Christ is the
purest definition of Antichrist.
"Has Christ been divided up?"
1Corinthians 1:13.
Yes, drastically, and the evidence is overwhelming that
it is divided by Protestantism, and not by the Papacy or the
Catholic Church.
Therefore, you tell me, just Who Is
doing the severing? It is Protestantism with its never ending creation of new
sects, severing Jesus into ever more and ever smaller pieces.
The answer is
so obvious as to just who is clearly the Antichrist.
4.
Now just who is the deceiver and the denier of Jesus come in the flesh? The
deceiver is anyone who does not speak the truth, just as Satan deceived
Eve in Genesis 3:5. The denier, as I have already shown, are those who do not believe the words of Jesus Christ.
A Final Note:
According to
what Holy Scripture has clearly told us, Just Who Is
Antichrist?