The Antichrist is making a comeback

It’s been about 50 years since the eyes of the world were aimed at the figure of the Antichrist through the movie, “The Omen.”

If you haven’t seen it, the film’s plot follows Damien Thorn, a young child replaced at birth by his father, unbeknownst to his wife, after their biological child dies shortly after he was born. Soon afterwards, a series of mysterious events and violent deaths occur around the family, and as Damien enters childhood, his parents realize that he is the prophesied Antichrist.

Hollywood resurrected “The Omen” franchise last year with the release of “The First Omen,” a prequel that follows an American nun sent to work at a Catholic orphanage in Rome who uncovers a sinister conspiracy to bring about the birth of the Antichrist. If you’re a horror movie fan, the film is worth a watch. 

I’m guessing that Peter Thiel has seen it. 

A story in the Wall Street Journal recently profiled Thiel and said he “wants everyone to think more about the end of the world.” Unless you’re an extreme prepper, that’s not something most people do.  

A Silicon Valley investor, entrepreneur, and hedge fund manager who co-founded PayPal and Palantir Technologies, Thiel has made headlines for his lectures, which cover, among other topics, the personality of the Antichrist.  According to the article, “This is how Thiel says the end of the world might happen, according to a Wall Street Journal review of his recent lectures:

Existential risks will present themselves in the form of nuclear war, environmental disaster, dangerously engineered bioweapons and even autonomous killer robots guided by AI. As humans race toward a last battle — the Armageddon — a one-world government will form, promising peace and safety. In Thiel’s reckoning, this totalitarian authoritarian regime, with real teeth and real power, will be the coming of the modern-day Antichrist, a figure defined in Christian teachings as the personal opponent of God who will appear before the world ends.

I’m not sure about the “autonomous killer robots guided by AI” part, but the rest sounds pretty biblically spot on. Of course, not everyone agrees with Thiel’s or my assessment of the end times and the Antichrist.

An article by the Prophecy Reformation Institute says:

“In Scripture, there is no such thing as a ‘final Antichrist.’ … There is no place in the Bible that supports the current and popular view of a future-coming world dictator called the Antichrist.” The United Church of God agrees in a post they made, saying: ‘[the Antichrist] is not recorded. It’s not a title used for just a single end-time individual that would pop up right before the end time and be this evil sinister individual.’”

Tracing the Antichrist through Scripture

Arthur Pink would disagree with that. 

Pink, who was born in Nottingham, England, was a Bible teacher and pastor who authored 22 books, one of which is entitled The Antichrist, A Systematic of Satan’s Counterfeit Christ. He starts his work out by stating: “Across the varied scenes depicted by prophecy there falls the shadow of a figure at once commanding and ominous. Under many different names like the aliases of a criminal, his character and movements are set before us.”

Addressing the charge of critics that the word “antichrist” (Greek antichristos) is used only four times in Scripture (all in John’s epistles: 1 John 2:18, 2:22, 4:3; 2 John 7) and only one time possibly referring to a single individual (1 John 2:18) and thus not a significant figure, Pink shows the exact opposite by tracing the Antichrist through both the Old and New Testaments.  

The prefix anti can mean “against” or “adversary of,” but it can also mean “in place of,” with both meanings being illustrated in the Bible. The names in Scripture for the Antichrist’s character include: Antichrist (1 John 2:22), the man of sin (2 Thess. 2:3), the son of perdition (2 Thess. 2:3), the lawless one (2 Thess. 2:8), the beast (Rev. 11:7), the king of Babylon (Is. 14:4), the little horn (Dan. 7:8), the prince that shall come (Dan. 9:26), the willful king (Dan. 11:36), and the idol shepherd (Zech. 11:16-17). 

Of the one time “antichrist” is used for a single individual, Kistemaker & Hendriksen say in their commentary on 1 John: “The early Christians in the latter part of the first century had heard about the coming of the Antichrist, and they knew that he would appear as a single person.”

That single person is present in more places in Scripture than you might realize. Pink narrates an interesting contrast between the Person of Jesus Christ and the Antichrist in his work that can be summarized as follows: 

Numerous direct and indirect mentions of the Antichrist underscore the significance of this figure and the Church’s need to warn the world about the impending future führer, as exemplified by Peter Thiel and others. Pink ends his book with a good admonition for us all on the person of the Antichrist:  

“As we read prayerfully the teaching of Scripture concerning this Coming One, who shall embark upon the most awful course that has ever been run on their earth … and, as we are made aware of the unspeakably dreadful judgments which God will pour upon the world at that time, and the fearful doom which shall overtake the Antichrist and all his followers; our heart will be stirred within us, and we shall not hesitate to lift up our voices in warning. The world is in complete ignorance of what awaits it. The nations know not what is in store for them. Even Israel discern not the dark night which lies before them. But as God instructs us concerning what He is about to do, it is positively criminal to remain silent. The voices of all whom God has been pleased to enlighten ought to be raised in solemn and united testimony to the things which God has declared “must shortly come to pass.”

Warning the world about Antichrist is not about being sensational or spreading panic — it’s about opening people’s eyes to what Scripture says through its prophecies. In a culture numb to both truth and deception, let’s not be shy about stating what we believe. And in particular, when it comes to prophecy, we focus not so much on the evil that’s coming, but the King of kings who’s due to appear. 

Remember: “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10).