The Antichrist Beast Power - Exclusively a Single Man?

[Lysimachus]

Greetings brothers and sisters!

Below is included an article I wrote which is essentially an excerpt from upcoming book, “Vindicating the Historicist Hermeneutic”. The name will probably later change to something more understandable to the public, such as “Vindicating the Historical Approach of Bible Prophecy”. In the past, I have sent the following article to some of you, but regardless, here is a highly updated and revised version. Included in a link below is the Printable PDF version which includes a “Misconceptions Corner” that deals with some misconceptions pertaining to Historicism. For those of you who do not know what “Futurism”, “Preterism”, or “Historicism” is, I suggest you scroll down to the bottom of this article to the “Recommended and Related Sources” section is, and there you will find plenty of information to study up on. Included in these sources is an article that traces Jesuit Futurism back to not only “futuristic elements” from the early Church Fathers such as Irenaeus and Hippolytus, but shows that these Church fathers borrowed these “futuristic elements” from elements found in the Pseudepigraphal (extra-biblical) writings written by Hellenistic Jews, and stemming back all the way to the Beliar Myth and Persian Zoroastrian dualism. You will also find a distorted version of Daniel’s 70th week in some of these extra-biblical writings which were clearly unbiblical and not part of the sacred Canon of scripture.

I will be continuing to send necessary tools to as many of those who advocate the Historicist position of Bible prophecy as I can to help them vindicate the faith in these times when our doctrines are being severely tested by the fiercest opposition. Says an insightful author: “Some are not close Bible students. They are disinclined to apply themselves diligently to the study of God's word. In consequence of this neglect they have labored at great disadvantage and have not, in their ministerial efforts, accomplished one tenth of the work which they might have done had they seen the necessity of closely applying their minds to the study of the word. They might have become so familiar with the Scriptures, so fortified with Bible arguments, that they could meet opponents and so present the reasons of our faith that the truth would triumph and silence their opposition.” (2T, 499)

This reminds me of the Bible passages that say:

“For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.” (Luke 21:15)

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15)

“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” (Ephesians 5:11)

My expertise is dismantling the ideologies inherent in Dispensational Futurism and Pretribulationalism, yet at the same time I respect and admire the strong faith that many proponents of this ideology hold. It is my prayer that these materials will prove to aid Bible students in the cause of vindicating and defending the foundational pillars of our faith.

Enjoy!

We will begin with the following article:

The Antichrist Beast Power – Exclusively a Single Man?

by Lysimachus

The most popular argument pertaining to the antichrist circulating in the Christian world today is that the Antichrist cannot be the Papacy because he must be exclusively a single man who rules for an exclusive future period for a literal 1260 days or 3 ½ years. They say that a man can simply not live for 1260 years long; therefore, the Papacy does not fit this criterion.

But is this criterion Biblical? Do we interpret the words of Daniel, Paul and John to such literalism that we completely miss what they were truly trying to convey?

Allow me to quote Tim McHyde, a staunch Futurist proponent from TimMcHyde.com who comments on the Historicist perception in an attempt to refute its hermeneutic concerning the Antichrist.

Notice:

Quoting McHyde:

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Has the Prophecy of the Beast / Antichrist Already Been Fulfilled in the Papacy?

Historicists believe that the Great Tribulation is 1260 years long and that there is no gap in the 70 weeks of Daniel. Believing the 70th week has already been fulfilled years ago, the Antichrist then must also be history. Who was he? Since the papacyarose out of the 10 horned kingdom of the Roman Empire, they conclude that the papacy is the Antichrist.

Is this right? Once again, this site tries to raise awareness that prophecy is not to be read any differently than the rest of the Bible. We are not allowed to break scripture, i.e. come up with an interpretation that breaks the plain face value meaning of it. Does Historicism pass this test? We will see that to believe any of these things you have to give very strained interpretations of many plain passages.

Is the Beast a Man or an "Institution"?

It says the Beast of Revelation 13 is a man who later in Revelation 19 is cast into the Lake of Fire with the other beast of Revelation 13, the False Prophet. Historicism changes this from a literal man to a symbol representing a manmade institution, the papacy. This unauthorized allegorization of the plain text breaks scripture and must be rejected, even if throwing the papacy into the lake of fire where it is “tormented” with smoke rising as a result made sense (Rev 20:10). ~ (Tim McHyde, http://timmchyde.com/historicism-antichrist/)

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End Quote

In response, I will begin by respectfully saying that these arguments put forth reveal a complete disregard for the consistency required in order to come to arrive at well-balanced conclusions on prophetic interpretation in relation to symbolism. They are completely devoid of sound and logical exegesis once put up to the Biblical test.

The Bible gives us the rules of interpretation. We do not need to guess.

Please take careful notice as we break down the rules of prophetic interpretation in relation to kingdoms and powers:

1. Daniel 7:23 tells us that the “fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth”. Therefore, we see that a Beast represents a kingdom. Not a single man.

2. Revelation 13 does not call the Beast “a man”, rather, it uses the terminology “he”. If this beast is “one man”, how does he have 7 heads and 10 horns? Daniel also tells us that horns can represent kingdoms. Daniel 8 verses 9 and 23 prove this without a shadow of a doubt, that these 4 horns are “four kingdoms”. Saying that a horn is a “king” is another way to express it (verse 21)—simply for the fact that a king is the head of a nation, and the king is the representative figure OF a nation.

3. 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4 describes the Antichrist power as the “man of lawlessness”, and “son of perdition”. The argument that this must be exclusively one man in the future is based on poor exegesis, and we shall see why. First of all, Paul warned that in his day, the “mystery of lawlessness” was already at work in his day (verse 7), and that this would continue ALL THE WAY until the consummation of our Lord, when “that LAWLESS ONE will be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth” (verse 8 ). This proves that it cannot be exclusively a single man, because Paul unequivocally and unapologetically expresses that this mystery of lawlessness was already beginning in his day (yes, the very elements of Catholicism were already brewing through the savage wolves who were entering the church), and would continue ALL the way until the coming of the Lord. That’s the Papacy for you! It began in Paul’s day, it showed its head after Paul died, and it’s still in existence today. A PERFECT fulfillment! It has received a deadly wound (Revelation 13:3) terminating its Dark Age reign, but this wound is in the process of being healed (13:12).

4. While it is undeniable that the Papal Church is headed by a single man, the Pope—we must remember that at the same time it is wrong to assume that this “man of sin” must be exclusively and only a “single man in the future”. We should have no doubt that the Pope is a physical expression of the "Man of Sin". However, let us be careful to not stretch this to the point that the "man of sin" does not "include" an entire system through its dynastical line of Popes. While Paul expressly uses "the Man of Sin" in 2 Thess 2:3, Paul also uses the expression "Man of God" in 1 Tim 6:11 and 2 Tim 3:17 which state: "But thou, O MAN OF GOD, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness."..."That the MAN OF GOD may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

Let us raise the question: Is there only ONE "man of God"? It is interesting how Paul himself uses both expressions "The Man of God", and "The Man of Sin". We begin to see, therefore, that it is the officiating authority and seat of the Popes being spoken of here, not a single man exclusively isolated into the future.

5. Regarding the notion that it is “an unauthorized allegorization” to throw an entire system into the Lake of Fire, take careful note to the following texts which cause this argument to fall flat on its face:

"And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with HER, shall bewail HER, and lament for HER, when they shall see the smoke of her burning." (Rev 18:9)

"And HER smoke rose up for ever and ever." (Rev 19:3) -- compare with..."And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the BEAST and the FALSE PROPHET are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." (Rev 20:7)

Let us raise two reasonable questions:

(a) Who is the "HER" in these texts that is burning? It's the Harlot Woman of Revelation 17, is it not? And she represents the system of Babylon according to Revelation 17:18.

( If our critics can accept that this Harlot Woman is also a system that will burn for ever and ever, and that it is not a single woman, should it not be just as easy and reasonable for them to conclude the same for the Beast and False Prophet?

Just because the entire Harlot Woman system will burn forever and ever doesn’t mean everyone who WAS in the system will burn with her. They will separate from her. This is why they are called to COME OUT of HER (Babylon)! (Revelation 18:4)

If the woman can be identified as a “she”, yet represent a system (because we are called to “come out of HER”) why can’t the Beast also be referred to as a “he”, and still be a system as well? The prophet Daniel in chapter 2 verse 38 refers to Nebuchadnezzar and says “THOU art this head of gold” concerning the dream of the great metal statue. Was Nebuchadnezzar the head of gold, or was it the entire kingdom of Babylon? Obviously both! But Nebuchadnezzar was the representative of his kingdom! Verse 39 says “And AFTER THEE shall arise ANOTHER KINGDOM!”

Are we now getting a clearer picture of prophetic terminology? I believe so. A king and a kingdom are used interchangeably to represent a kingdom! According to the literalistic principles laid out by Futurists concerning the Beast and the False Prophet, consistency would demand that the Harlot Woman of Revelation be a single and literal woman. Are they willing to push it this far? Or are they willing to allow the Bible to be its own interpreter?

If you have pet lion, and it is a male lion, and someone asks you “where is your lion?”, what would you say? You would say “he’s in the cage”! No wonder the beast of Revelation 13 is referred to as a “he”. A ferocious beast is no doubt identified with a male. A male lion with wings is a “he” too. The lion in Daniel 7 is recognized by most Biblical scholars as “Babylon”. Interestingly, Babylon is also represented as a “her” in Revelation.

Finally, and conclusively, we have that famous passage from Paul in Romans chapter 13 concerning the higher powers of Rome. In rebuking those who felt they needed to physically rebel and take up arms against the Roman Empire, as well as avoid paying their taxes to Caesar, please carefully notice Paul’s terminology concerning the Pagan Roman power:

“(1) Let every soul be subject unto the HIGHER POWERS. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. (2) Whosoever therefore resisteth the POWER, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. (3) For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:…

[Now pay close attention to the following the rest of this passage:]

(4) For HE [the POWER] is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for HE beareth not the sword in vain: for HE is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” ~ (Romans 13:1-4)

Here we see that Paul unambiguously declares the power and system of the Roman empire as a “HE” and a “minister” of God to execute wrath upon those who do evil.

We therefore should be able to clearly see how these arguments put forth by both Preterist and Futurist authors against the historical understanding of the Antichrist are not built on solid principles of prophetic interpretation. Unbeknownst to the majority in the Christian world, much of this confusion is due to the infiltration of Jesuit works which began at the Council of Trent in the mid 16th century to counter the Reformation and eliminate from the minds of the people that the Antichrist of Bible prophecy could ever be realized in the Papal System. It is my invitation to all Preterists and Futurists (and all those who subscribe to Dispensationalism and its kin) to abandon these Jesuit inspired theologies at once. They were clearly meant to mask the identity of Antichrist so that the world can no longer see its applicability to Rome. This is exactly what the Devil has been trying to accomplish with the Protestant Christian world for the last 500 years.

May God help us in these last days to study diligently so that we might discern what the Bible is truly trying to convey to us regarding these matters. Let us pray earnestly that we may not fall victim to false interpretations of scripture that can lead us down the path of deception, and ultimately, destruction.

May truth and righteousness reign supreme in our lives!

Recommended and Related Sources (links):

- Futurism: The Counterfeit Prophecy:

http://www.hearingthetruth.org/chapter8.pdf by D.S. Farris (This article traces Futurism all the way back to the extra-Biblical (Pseudepigraphal) writings stemming back to the Beliar Myth)

- Futurism’s Incredible Journey:

http://secretsunsealed.org/downloads/futurismsincrediblejourney.pdf by Pastor Stephen Bohr (This article documents the incredible journey of Futurism, and how it has impacted modern Protestantism)

- Futurist and Futurism Truth:

http://www.futurist-futurism.com/

- Preterist and Preterism Truth:

http://www.preterist-preterism.com/

- Historicst and Historicism Truth:

http://www.historicist-historicism.com/