Who would the antichrist fool?

[Athetotheist]

"....and all the world wondered after the beast." (Rev. 13:3)

The antichrist is supposed to fool everyone----except true Christians----into worshipping him.

How well would that work out? Would he be able to fool.....

Jews? Judaism holds that only God is to be worshipped and that God does not take any physical form. Worship of any human being is considered blasphemous idolatry, and any wonders the antichrist performed would be interpreted as the workings of a false teacher sent by God to test the Jewish people.

Muslims? Islam also teaches that God takes no physical form, so they too would instantly peg the antichrist as a phony.

Feminist Pagans would reject any god-claim which didn't acknowledge the Goddess.

Atheists would suspect any miracle of being either a trick or a coincidence. An "image of the beast" brought to life could be taken for an artificial intelligence project.

The god-claim of the antichrist being fundamentally incompatible with so many beliefs, who would be left for the antichrist to fool?

[TRANSPONDER]

There have been regular appearances of prophets, seers, Jesuses and the like and they have all failed to make a decent case. An antiChrist seems to be what they generally don't claim to be. Who would? But I imagine some groups have pointed to some hate - figure.

But they've all gone, leaving us much as we were, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Nixon, Obama. And the present crop of blots on future history. I don't think past antichrists have fooled many for long and (in a reversal of the 'atheists would never believe' apologetic), if Jesus himself returned and said 'Yes, the Catholics (or Greek orthodox, or Mormons) are the true church', I wonder how many Protestants would find themselves. while devoutly believing in Jesus, would be blaspheming his Holy Spirit by saying he must be the Antichrist.

That's the counter to that apologetic. Atheists with some compelling evidence might accept God or Jesus if he came, but if they professed another religion, say Islam, which Christians would believe it really was Jesus. Ever?

[The Nice Centurion]

"Worship" can be understood in a broad way!

I think that all denominations you brought up are free to "worship", for example, Johnny Depp as a great Pirate-Actor or Walt Disney as a great Businessman who brought Happiness to so many kids.

Also different groups could worship the Antichrist for different reasons.
For example; If the Antichrist were to perform Miracles, Atheists would presumably be interested in how he does that.
So they could end up "worshipping" him out of Fun or as a great and talented Illusionist .

[JehovahsWitness]

"....and all the world wondered after the beast." (Rev. 13:3)

The antichrist is supposed to fool everyone----except true Christians----into worshipping him.

You refer to REVELATION 13:3 which does not speak about the antichrist but rather wild beast which represents the governments of the world.

How well would that work out? ...

It already has. The earth beast has fooled people into "worshipping" the sea (wild) beast by wrapping it in the respective flags of each nation.

: “Nationalism, viewed as a religion, has much in common with other great religious systems of the past . . . On his own national god the modern religious nationalist is conscious of dependence. Of His powerful help he feels the need. In Him he recognises the source of his own perfection and happiness. To Him, in a strictly religious sense, he subjects himself. . . . The nation is conceived of as eternal, and the deaths of her loyal sons do but add to her undying fame and glory.”​—Carlton J. F. Hayes, as quoted on page 359 of the book What Americans Believe and How They Worship, by J. Paul Williams.

To learn more please go to other posts related to

DANIEL'S PROPHECIES , .THE SECOND COMING * and ... THE BOOK OF REVELATION

*The Return of Christ

NOTE All posts I write represent my personal faith based beliefs as one of Jehovah's Witnesses

[JehovahsWitness]

The "Antichrist" refers to all who deny Christ and oppose true Christianity, would include individuals, organisations and governments. I'm not sure there is a scripture that speaks of the antichrist fooling all people, but possibly there is one.

Do you have a reference?


FURTHER READING : Who Is the Antichrist?
https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines ... ntichrist/

To learn more please go to other posts related to...

BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MAN OF LAWLESSNESS* and ... THE BOOK OF REVELATION

* The Antichrist

[Athetotheist]

The "Antichrist" refers to all who deny Christ and oppose true Christianity, would include individuals, organisations and governments. I'm not sure there is a scripture that speaks of the antichrist fooling all people, but possibly there is one.

Do you have a reference?

Yeah. The aforementioned Rev. 13:3.

[Athetotheist]

[Replying to JehovahsWitness in post #4

You refer to REVELATION 13:3 which does not speak about the antichrist but rather wild beast which represents the governments of the world.

"Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man".....(Rev. 13:18)

[Athetotheist]

"Worship" can be understood in a broad way!

I think that all denominations you brought up are free to "worship", for example, Johnny Depp as a great Pirate-Actor or Walt Disney as a great Businessman who brought Happiness to so many kids.

Also different groups could worship the Antichrist for different reasons.
For example; If the Antichrist were to perform Miracles, Atheists would presumably be interested in how he does that.
So they could end up "worshipping" him out of Fun or as a great and talented Illusionist.

In this case the worship is supposed to be in the form of bowing down to an image, a big no-no in the Abrahamic religions. Though an antichrist could sure mess things up by appearing as an entertainer rather than as a deity (see my thread, "if you were Satan").

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to JehovahsWitness in post #4

You refer to REVELATION 13:3 which does not speak about the antichrist but rather wild beast which represents the governments of the world.

"Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man".....(Rev. 13:18)

So if the word "man" is found anywhere else in scripture it must be the antichrist? Is that the full extent of your reasoning ?

Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image....”

See post #4


Okay fair enough. ..

To learn more please go to other posts related to...

RELIGION, BABYLON THE GREAT and ...THE MAN OF LAWLESSNESS*

* The Antichrist

[Athetotheist]

[Replying to JehovahsWitness in post #9

Is there a reason you believe Revelation 13v3 which does not mention the word "antichrist" is in fact referring to the antichrist?

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."(2 Thessalonians 2:3-4)

Is there a reason you don't believe that anyone like this appears in Revelation, or that it's a pretty good description of an antichrist?