15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:15-19 (NASB) (Read verses 18-19 on the site)
If you are at all familiar with Eschatology and the many different views on the end times then you have undoubtedly read or heard of a man who is referred to as the antichrist. However, you may be surprised to learn that the word “antichrist” is found in the Bible only in John’s epistles of 1st John and 2nd John….
The study of this person or persons is not the intent of this article. I have no doubt that in God’s timing the final antichrist will be revealed, but for now I would like to look at the attributes that we should understand are of the spirit of the antichrist.
William Tyndale, in 1526, was the first to translate the Greek New Testament into English. He had to flee England to finish his work in Germany and the Low Countries of The Netherlands and Belgium. He was constantly in hiding while working on getting as many copies of the English Bible shipped across the English Channel to eager believers as was physically possible. Why was he having to run and hide? The Greek New Testament revealed that the Latin Bible of the Roman Catholic Church, The Latin Vulgate, contained many gross errors. Along with that, the Roman Catholic Church had instituted a huge number of doctrines that were nowhere to be found in the Greek of the New Testament or the Hebrew and Aramaic of the Old Testament. The R.C. had long before moved away from Justification by Faith alone. Instead, it taught that works were necessary for salvation. They invented Purgatory, Indulgences, the infallibility of the Pope, and had added sacraments that were not instituted by Christ.