Who or What Is the Antichrist?
1) Direct Answer
The Antichrist is Satan’s religious spirit that opposes and replaces the Word of Jesus Christ. It began as a spirit working among believers, grows into a churchly system, and will finally be embodied in a man—the “man of sin”—who sits in the temple of God and exalts himself as God.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- The Bible says the antichrist is first a spirit: “Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God… this is that spirit of antichrist” (1 John 4:3). “Even now are there many antichrists” (1 John 2:18).
- It denies the true revelation of Jesus Christ: “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22).
- It will climax in a person: “That man of sin… who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God… so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). “The mystery of iniquity doth already work” (verse 7), and then it appears “after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” (verses 9-10).
- It is religious and blasphemous power: the beast “was given… a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies… and it was given unto him to make war with the saints” (Revelation 13:5-7). Another beast looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon (Revelation 13:11)—religious appearance, satanic voice.
- It speaks great words against God, persecutes saints, and thinks to change times and laws (Daniel 7:8,25).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- “Anti” means against and instead-of. So the Antichrist doesn’t just fight Christ; it takes His place—claiming authority over the Word and over the worship of God.
- Notice where it sits: “in the temple of God.” That shows it operates in the realm of worship. If it were merely political or atheistic, why does Scripture place it inside the temple and describe religious signs and wonders?
- John said it was already working in his day (1 John 2:18; 2 Thessalonians 2:7). So it began as a spirit in the church, organizing around teachings that deny Jesus Christ as God manifested in flesh and replacing the Scriptures with human creeds. In time it becomes a powerful system, and in the end it is headed by a man who exalts himself.
- God’s safeguard is the love of the truth and the seal of the Holy Spirit. The true Church stays with the plain Word. Any spirit, system, or leader that adds to it, takes from it, or puts a man in Christ’s place is antichrist.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Now notice, it’s not the outside world that deceives the elect—it’s a look-alike, so close it would deceive if possible. Stay with the Scripture: Jesus Christ is God manifested in flesh, and His Word is final. Anything that denies that revelation or substitutes man’s authority for Christ’s is the Antichrist spirit, and it will culminate in the man of sin exactly as the Bible says.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
The Serpent's Seed
58-0928E §84
Notice this now. And out of there then come Ham, Ham with his wife and them. He had a curse put on him. From Ham come Nimrod, who built Babylon. Out of Babylon come the Catholic church, the beginning of it. Come on down through Ahab, come on down from Ahab into Judas Iscariot, wound it up--the antichrist. And in this last day, here is the spirit of the antichrist and the Spirit of the Christ. The spirit of the antichrist saying, "The days of miracles is past," the Spirit of Christ saying, "He's the same yesterday,...
Seals 6: The Fourth Seal
63-0321 §68
Now you see, he was cast out of the earth and becomes incarnate. As the antichrist spirit become incarnate into a man, that man changes from one thing to another---from an antichrist spirit to a false prophet, and then the beast comes into him. Just exactly like the church grows. His church went from antichrist to false prophet. And in the great age to come the beast that is to rise up... So the church comes the same way, through justification, sanctification, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost as Christ being in th...
The Mark of the Beast
54-0513 §49
Brother, you just don't realize how cunning these things are! Remember, Jesus Christ said that the antichrist would be so close till it would deceive the very elect. Said, "Now, don't let any man entice you." Said, "Don't be like heathens, say your prayer over and over, 'Hail Mary, blessed art thou, full of grace, and blessed all that.'" Said, "Don't be like heathens, using vain repetition." He said, "And don't you call no man 'father,' after this earth, either, for you have got one Father, and that's in Heaven." B...
The true vine and the false vine
55-0607 §18
The devil takes his man, but the spirit remains just the same. Jesus said, "You're of your father, the devil." Said, "Which one of the prophets that showed forth the coming of the Just One, did your fathers not stone?" and so forth, speaking of the Pharisees. Remember, and right keep this in mind: The antichrist spirit is not communism. The antichrist spirit is religious. Jesus said, "It'd be so close it'd deceive the very elect if possible." It's not something like a communistic anti-God affair; it's a religious s...
Expectation
54-0220 §56
...see. The devil takes his man but never the spirit. It comes right back, very religious. Didn't Paul say, "In the last days they'd be heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness and denying the power thereof: from such turn away?" Now, we're all here. That's right. God's people is here; Satan's here. The antichrist is not a communist. Communist is not the antichrist spirit. The Bible said in Saint Matthew the 24th chapter, that, "the antichrist would be so close to the...