What is the difference between christ and antichrist

Jessica G. Her thesis examines the foundation of parish libraries and the use of their collections by readers in an attempt to understand religion at a parish level.

Her general research interests centre around the history and physicality of the book and reading, the political and religious changes during the English Reformation, women in power in medieval and early modern England, and the Tudor and Stuart courts. Is your library one of our partners? Let us know if you would like to contribute to this blog. Please contact us by email at bookproj st-andrews.

Are you a librarian interested in learning more about the rarity of your collection? By Jessica G. Purdy Printed religious and political polemic was a mainstay of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

In short, he was the Pope or even the institution of the papacy and the Church themselves. As the English religious radical John Wycliffe c. This was the position on the Antichrist adopted by Protestants at the time of the 16th century Reformation. Martin Luther was convinced that he was living in the last days. For him, the Pope fitted all the criteria for the Antichrist. Read more: Apocalypse Now: why the movies want the world to end every year. Within conservative Christianity over the last century, Antichrists have multiplied.

Generally, predictions of a tyrant outside the church now dominate the idea of a deceiver within it. American presidents are well represented.

When it comes to accusations of being the Antichrist, usually from the conservative religious right, Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, and Barack Obama have all been mentioned. Donald Trump is gaining popularity as a worthy candidate with ethics scholar D. Hilary Clinton is, to the best of my knowledge, the only female candidate.

Osama bin Laden was a favourite until his death, as was Saddam Hussein. Marks of the beast have even been discerned by some in supermarket barcodes and pet microchips.

Read more: Fact over fiction on the 'apocalyptic' super blood moon. And though His suffering was tied to His human nature for His divine nature is impassible , Jesus, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, hypostatically united to His human nature, suffered and died for us.

It was this same human nature that God raised from the dead, gloriously transformed. John takes up this theme elsewhere when he says that Christ came in water and in blood, not in water alone cf 1 John Jesus Christ, the Son of God, though of two natures, is one person, and He did in fact die suffer and die for us.

Thus to St. John, the essence of the antichrist is denial that Jesus came in the flesh. By extension, it can be argued that the term antichrist refers to all deceivers , though only logically, not specifically in the text. John does not indicate that he means the term antichrist this broadly, but in a wider sense all heresy pertains to the antichrist because Jesus Christ is the truth. Jesus teaches through His apostles that to deny the truth is to deny Christ Himself; it is to deny truth itself and thus to be an antichrist.

So perhaps this is not fodder for movies and novels after all; sorry! This brings us to a discussion of the man of lawlessness or the lawless one. What or who is the man of lawlessness whom St. Paul mentions and how is he related to the antichrist? As I stated above, I do not think there is a connection.

Paul teaches:. Note the following crucial differences between antichrists and the lawless one:. Jesus also speaks of those who will lead many astray, though He speaks of them in the plural and is likely referring to occurrences in the first century during the time leading up to the war with the Romans in 70 A. D: For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect Matthew As you can see, there are a lot of moving parts here as well as a lot of singulars and plurals to sort out and time frames to consider.

Permit me the following conclusions:. All that said, I believe that equating this lawless one with one of the beasts of Revelation or with the antichrist may be too speculative, and possibly inaccurate. Scripture does speak to us of the end times and of difficult times preceding them, but the information is often given in general, even cryptic, terms. Just be ready, and when those times set in remember that Christ has already won the battle. Viva Christo Rey! Catholic Standard El Pregonero. Latest Paper Classifieds Buy Photos.

Thursday, Nov 11, Subscribe. Voices See All See All. Classifieds Submit a Classified Advertise. Newsletter Subscribe. Community in Mission. Who or What Is the Antichrist?