Introduction:

 

​In this article I will be using the actual name for the person known to most as "Jesus" the Christ (Messiah).  His historically  correct name is "Yeshua".  I prove elsewhere that "Jesus" is not and has never been his real name.

This is one of the more controversial articles on the website. After reading it you will realize why. Yet I feel confident that it represents a far more accurate solution to the “antichrist” mystery than what has historically been Christianity’s explanation. It may be incorrect in minor details since at this time an exact understanding is impossible for anyone to know, but I am satisfied that the overall theme is correct.

 

Generally, within this website I attempt to show that the actual Messiah as he is presented in the New Testament differs dramatically from the characteristics applied by contemporary Christianity and counterfeit Messianism.

 

It is no coincidence that the false “God in the flesh” Messiah of contemporary Christianity and counterfeit Messianism have almost identical aspects. This is due to the fact that counterfeit Messianism IS Christianity masquerading as something it is not. That is why I label it “counterfeit” Messianism. The label applies primarily because of counterfeit Messianism’s refusal to repent of the idolatry of worshiping a pagan Roman, false “God in the flesh”.

​The “antichrist” is popularly understood to be an actual individual who is expected to be a powerful spiritual, political, or military leader even though the New Testament appears to clearly indicate this is not the case.  Throughout history various individuals were labeled “the antichrist”.  Despite the repeated subsequent proof that such individuals were not the "antichrist” but could have an an antichrist, and the fact that no such individual is mentioned within the context of the New Testament’s reference to “antichrist”, Christians nevertheless continue to make the same mistake over and over.  They do so because Christian and counterfeit Messianic leaders wrongly lead them into accepting this common error.

So, the problem is that Christians continue to label certain individuals as the "antichrist” even though there is nothing in the New Testament that implies that the term refers to a unique sole individual.

 

Contemporary Christian propaganda, bias, and deception are the reasons for the erroneous understanding of “antichrist”.  Within this study I will prove this to be the case.  I will also show how contemporary Christianity has good and understandable reasons for promoting a false explanation of “antichrist”.

​I will show that if the Greek term antichrist had actually been translated into English then it could be easily shown to be a term which represents a set of various incorrect ideologies.  Those erroneous ideologies have one or all of the following features: 1. Rejection of Yeshua as Messiah.2. Distorted characteristics of the Messiah, that is, Messiah's role or mission or "nature" is seriously misrepresented.3. As a consequence of the distortions from feature number 2, a counterfeit or phony "Christ" is then promoted.

Both contemporary Christianity’s “God in the flesh” Christ and counterfeit Messianism’s “God in the flesh” Messiah are each a product of the third feature of antichrist as just defined.

 

The first portions of this study provide important preliminary information that can be obtained from a prophecy by Messiah Yeshua regarding what would occur after his death.  His prophecy allows a much better understanding of the “antichrist” when that term is later focused upon.

 

Within the first portions I also show how Judaism - yes, Judaism - contributed to the rise of "antichrist" and to the severe apostasy of the original faith of and in Yeshua the Messiah - a faith system I call "Yeshua Judaism".

​"Yeshua Judaism" is the authentic Torah faith Yeshua brought down from heaven as he  sought to reform what was and has since increasingly become an unloving elitist corruption of Torah.  He sought to re-instill the true intent of God's Torah within Israel, reinvigorate it by ridding it of its severe elitism which had occurred due to the extremely elitist mindset of Judaism's leaders, and spread it to all nations and peoples of the world instead of among only "the Jews" as is taught by those elitist leaders.  His efforts to reform, re-instill, reinvigorate, and spread Torah universally is the true reason why, then and now, he was and is hated within the "Judaism" which was birthed by those leaders.  Contrary to the typical understanding, Yeshua Judaism actually predates the commonly understood religion of rabbinic "Judaism" - a fact Judaism denies but which is easily proven. What is commonly called "Judaism" today is a faith that was created after the Second Temple destruction, is savagely anti-Yeshua and anti-New Testament, and is based upon the biased opinions of a specific highly esteemed man (rabbi Akiva) and a small number of rabbis who followed him or with whom he agreed.  Their opinions are found within the "Mishnah".  One of Akiva's followers individually acquired, parsed, and ultimately compiled the Mishnah.  The "Gemorah" (or Gemara, Gemora, etc.), which is also based upon the biased opinions of that Akiva-based sect within Judaism and which represents commentary on the Mishnah, was subsequently added to the Mishnah to ultimately become the "Talmud", upon which Judaism it totally based.  Today's "Judaism" could legitimately be called "Akiva Judaism" or "Akivaism".  More on that topic in separate discussions.

It is important for you to absorb the initial material, because if you jump straight to the detailed description of "antichrist", your understanding of the study and of the proof regarding what “antichrist” actually means will be substantially reduced.

 

Yeshua’s prophetic warning which includes informative material that helps to define and identify "antichrist"

 

One of the last recorded lengthy conversations of Messiah before his death occurred as he was sitting upon the Mount of Olives. His disciples had a burning question they wished answered. We read of it in the twenty-fourth chapter of the gospel of Matthew.  There are a multitude of truths that can be derived from Yeshua’s words found in this area of the gospels; however, this article will focus upon limited aspects of the material.

 

Matthew 24:3-14 (NET)

3 As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 Yeshua answered them, “Watch out that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Make sure that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 For nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these things are the beginning of birth pains. 9 Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and will kill you. You will be hated by all the nations because of my name. 10 Then many will be led into sin, and they will betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will appear and deceive many, 12 and because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the person who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

 

Parallel passages are found in Mark chapter 13 and Luke chapter 21. I will quote from only the section of those parallels which is pertinent to this portion of the present discussion.

 

Mark 13:3-6 (NET)

3 So while he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that all these things are about to take place?” 5 Yeshua began to say to them, “Watch out that no one misleads you. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and they will mislead many.”

 

Luke 21:7,8 (NET)

7 So they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that these things are about to take place?” 8 He said, “Watch out that you are not misled. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them!”

 

The passages above are similar in all Bible versions, and in all the punctuation is also similar or exactly the same.

 

Why do I mention punctuation?

 

Simple. You see, most Christians do not realize that the thousands of Greek manuscripts and manuscript fragments from which the New Testament is compiled – most of which differ from one another to varying extents – do not have punctuation. The punctuation is added by the translators.

 

Let me state that again so that it will not be missed.  This is an important issue of which you should be aware as you read the Bible.

​The punctuation which determines the sentence structure and often even the meaning of a passage is not actually present in the Greek manuscripts from which the New Testament is produced. It is placed there by those who translate the Bible. It is a “best guess” at rendering the passages in a way suited to what the translators feel is the original intent of the verse.

And what determines a “best guess?” I am confident that in most cases it is a sincere scholarly effort by linguists and Bible language experts. However, despite their sincerity let us not be naive. Without a doubt unintentional and possibly even intentional bias plays a major role.

 

There are various “standard” teachings that have existed within Christianity for approximately 1700 years, and those teachings undeniably influence the rendering of a word from among various possible meanings as well as the placement of punctuation within the verse. This is a fact. Anyone denying it is just being foolish.

 

I will elaborate further on the punctuation problem later within this study, but first let us consider a separate issue – a glaring problem – an unmistakable contradiction that severely weakens the commonly accepted understanding of the verses we reviewed.  Recognition of it will help you to more readily recognize the likelihood of what we will later discuss, which is that the passages we are considering have been improperly punctuated in your Bibles in order to allow Christian and counterfeit Messianic leaders to advance a biased, false, interpretation narrative.

 

The few “many”?

 

Let us consider a few of the verses we viewed earlier.  Please take note of how I emphasize the term “many” in each verse.

 

Matthew 24:4-5 (NET)

4 Yeshua answered them, “Watch out that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many."

 

Mark 13:5-6 (NET)

5 Yeshua began to say to them, “Watch out that no one misleads you. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and they will mislead many.”

 

Luke 21:8 (NET)

8 He said, “Watch out that you are not misled. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them!”

 

For almost 40 years of my life, during which I was a normal Christian and before I began to discover the actual Truth regarding New Testament teachings, I accepted what is taught within Christianity concerning these verses. I believed them to be warning us to beware so that we would not be mislead by false messiahs or people who claim to be Yeshua (Jesus) returning.

 

Christians are always told that the punctuation used for the phrases “… saying, ‘I am the Christ’ …” and “… saying, ‘I am he’ …” within the verses indicates that those false messiahs would literally exclaim, “I am Christ” or “I am he.”  For most of my life I accepted that interpretation.  (The  biased punctuation error will be dealt with in detail later in the study.)

 

There is an obvious problem with such an interpretation, and it always bothered me even when I believed the passages to be referring to false messiahs or people claiming to be Yeshua (Jesus) returned.  It was a problem that caused me to never really feel comfortable with the standard interpretation.

 

The term “many” should speak for itself, but just so you understand let me point out what should be obvious even without having to mention it.  The Greek word that is translated as “many” in each of those verses does, indeed, refer to a very large number, a great multitude, a LOT of people.

 

The following translation of the Greek term that is rendered as “many” in English Bibles comes from the publication, A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian Literature (3rd ed., pp. 847-850).  Chicago: University of Chicago Press.  The various rendering for that Greek word are shown below.

 

• pert. to being a large number, many, a great number of
• pert. to being relatively large in quantity or measure, much, extensive
• pert. to being high on a scale of extent

 

Obviously, the renderings of the Greek as “being a large number, many, a great number of, much, extensive” explicitly defines a very large number.  It has be at least hundreds, more likely thousands, and perhaps more.  If we are extremely low in our estimate and want to accuse Messiah of perhaps over stating the actual number, we should at least assume several hundred.

 

Moreover, most of those hundreds of alleged false messiahs contemporary Christianity says Yeshua was talking about in the verses quoted earlier should have come and gone by now.  But even if we assume only a few hundred there is still an enormous difficulty with the commonly accepted meaning as taught by Christianity and counterfeit Messianism.

 

Further proof is found within the fact that Yeshua also stated that “many” would be misled by the "many" individuals about whom he was warning.  Once again, that term also refers to a very large number of people.

​Here is the problem:  Messiah stated that "many" would come in his name and mislead "many", but I never knew of “many” and was never told of “many”. Additionally, any false messiahs that did arise had a very limited impact that, with the exception of very few, did not have “many” followers.  Since Christianity would have you believe that Messiah was stating that “many” would be claiming to be Messiah (false Messiahs), can you name “many”?  Can your pastor?  I can’t.  If there have been so many it should be easy to at least name twenty.  What about fifteen?  Ok, let’s make it easy and just name ten.  How “many” can you name? If you research the “false messiahs” or “false christs” you may find information such as what is shown on the Wikipedia website.  The list found there was extremely liberal in how it defines a false messiah.  It was obvious that whomever compiled the list included anyone with the slightest bit of evidence he or she could claim identifies them as a "false christ".  It is a real stretch to legitimately list some of them as “false messiahs”, but let’s be gracious and assume the list is accurate.  At first glance it looks like “many”; however, if you count them they number only about fifty.  That is not “many”.  It is not a very large, extensive, or great number, and anyone who says otherwise is being unreasonable and denying the obvious truth. This is actually a major dilemma, a huge obstacle that casts serious doubt upon the commonly accepted understanding that these verses are referring to false messiahs or people who claim to be the returning Messiah.

Here is a fact your Christian or counterfeit Messianic leaders will not admit.  There have not been many!  If they say otherwise, ask them to name them for you.  I bet most Christian and counterfeit Messianic leaders cannot do that without researching it as done earlier when I referenced the Wikipedia site.  If there have been so many, Christian and counterfeit Messianic leaders should be able to give your at least twenty or so names the moment you ask them to do so.

 

There have only been a few “many”.

 

Few many?  That is an oxymoron – a clear contradiction in terms.  Yes, it is, but your contemporary Christian and counterfeit Messianic leaders require that you accept the contradiction without questioning or using your own common sense just as they expect you to do most of their other teachings.

​The simple fact that “many” false messiahs have not appeared throughout history to mislead very “many” people is strong proof that the commonly accepted interpretation of the precious verses is not simply false, but utterly ridiculous!

Yeshua’s later and actually first “false messiahs” warning

 

Later in Yeshua’s prophetic answer to the disciple’s question he does discuss false messiahs.  We find this in the same chapter of Matthew.  I will list the verse as well as those which precede it.  The particular verses which mention or suggest false messiahs are shown in bold text.

 

Matthew 24:6-24 (NET)

6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Make sure that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is still to come.  7 For nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  8 All these things are the beginning of birth pains.

9 Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and will kill you. You will be hated by all the nations because of my name.  10 Then many will be led into sin, and they will betray one another and hate one another.  11 And many false prophets will appear and deceive many,  12 and because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold.  13 But the person who endures to the end will be saved.  14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

15 So when you see the abomination of desolation – spoken about by Daniel the prophet – standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),  16 then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 The one on the roof must not come down to take anything out of his house,  18 and the one in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.  19 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days!  20 Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great suffering unlike anything that has happened from the beginning of the world until now, or ever will happen.  22 And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.  23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe him. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

 

Very similar warnings are found in Mark 13:3-23 and Luke 21:9-28.   I have linked to the passages on Biblegateway.com but will not read them due to their length and because they say basically the same thing as the account in Matthew’s gospel.

 

First, notice how Yeshua mentions the “abomination of desolation.”  It is also mentioned in the parallel found in the gospel of Mark (Mark 13:14) and possibly alluded to in Luke (Luke 19:43).  Such passages along with verses from Daniel’s prophecy, Paul’s discussion of the “man of lawlessness” in second Thessalonians, other verses from the book of Revelation, and elsewhere are used to fashion together a fictitious, sensationalized, and totally incorrect “antichrist” figure.

 

Christians and counterfeit Messianics gather together such Bible passages.  They pick and choose the verses specifically to support their incorrect “antichrist” understanding using the same “cut and paste” method often practiced by Christianity and counterfeit Messianism to promote falsehoods.  This, despite the fact that “antichrist” is never mentioned in any of those passages!  The only exception are the few passages from the epistles of the apostle John.  Most alleged support verses that are used have no mention of antichrist at all.  This is done because Christianity and its daughter, counterfeit Messianism, wish to present a lie as the truth in order to conceal the actual definition of “antichrist”.

 

Sadly, the excitement, emotion, and suspense such over-dramatized and sensationalized depictions of “antichrist” creates, much like a good movie or novel, causes most people to get caught up in the thrill of trying to decide who the “antichrist” is.  It is no accident that there have been numerous suspense filled books and movies made about “the antichrist” since it provides good entertainment.  What those who are caught up in the excitement do not realize is that they are being led to error and away from truth regarding the actual definition of “antichrist”.

 

The “abomination of desolation” is a completely different topic which I will not discuss within this study because it does not refer to, nor does it directly involve the true “antichrist”.

 

So, continuing with our discussion of what “antichrist” really is ..

​This is very important: Notice that when Messiah does specifically and unmistakably mention “false messiahs” he does not use the term “many”.  The same applies to the parallel passages from Mark’s gospel.  Clearly, Messiah is informing his disciples that, whereas there will be false messiahs, there will not be “many” of them; otherwise, he would have stated that there would.  Therefore, he directly contradicts those who claim that he is prophesying that “many” false messiahs (false christs) will come.

Here are other crucial facts to note from the passages:

 

1. Actual false messiah’s are not mentioned in Matthew’s gospel  until Matthew 24:23, eighteen verses after Christian and counterfeit Messianic leaders wrongly say Messiah first talks about false messiahs (Mat. 24:5).
2. Actual false messiahs are not mentioned in Mark’s gospel until Mark 13:21, fifteen verses after Christian and counterfeit Messianic leaders wrongly say Messiah first talks about false messiahs (Mark 13:6).
3. Luke makes no mention of false messiahs but does add a few more details with respect to other things that are not the subject of this study.

 

Due to the similarity of the readings, we will focus upon Matthew’s account.  In that writing we find the actual warning about false messiahs comes after the following:

 

• After warnings about many coming in his name and misleading many.
• After warnings about wars and rumors of wars.
• After warnings about nation rising against nation
• After warnings about kingdom rising against kingdom
• After warnings about famines.
• After warnings about earthquakes.
• After warnings about his true followers being handed over to the authorities or killed.
• After warnings that his true followers will be hated because of his name .
• After warnings about many being led into sin.
• After warnings about many being betrayed and hated.
• After warnings about false prophets (more on this later).
• After warnings about the increase in lawlessness (Torah violation) and how it will cause the love of many to grow cold.
• After exhortation and encouragement to endure to the end in order to be saved.
• After prophecy about the spreading of the actual good news (gospel) to all the earth.
• After warnings that then the end will come.
• After warnings about the abomination of desolation.
• After various other warnings concerning the hardships of the very last days before he comes.

 

So after all those other items Yeshua then specifically mentions for the first time that false messiahs will appear.

 

Let me state another important point with respect to Messiah’s specific warning about false messiahs:  The separation between the verses which speak of “many” who will come to mislead “many” and the verses which actually mention false messiahs strongly implies that they are, indeed, speaking of two entirely separate things.  As stated earlier, the separation is eighteen verses in Matthew and fifteen in Mark.

​Yeshua's statements in verses 4 and 5 are not about false messiahs.  They foretell of the rise of false teachers who come “in his name” rightly identifying him as Messiah, yet nevertheless promoting numerous critically dangerous errors that result in the misleading of “many” people.  That prophecy was and continues to be fulfilled to this very day. Indeed, it will be continuously fulfilled until Messiah returns to rebuke those who “mislead many”.

This will be further proven when we return to the discussion of how the punctuation of those verses is incorrect and forces an incorrect interpretation of Messiah’s words.

 

If this were any other discussion on any other topic there would be virtually universal agreement that the sentence structure, topic separation, specific word usage, and flow of the conversation in a situation where such separation exists clearly indicates that two separate and distinct details are being discussed.  Few people would even question that fact.  Unfortunately, Christian and counterfeit Messianic bias causes people to discard that obvious fact and to violate their common sense as they generally insists that in this case the sentence structure, topic separation, differences in Yeshua’s word usage, and conversation flow mean nothing.

 

Furthermore, take note of verse 11 where he first directly mentions “false prophets”, which is only six verses after his mention of those who come “in his name” in verse 5 of Matthew’s account.  He then mentions false prophets again later in the verse in which false messiahs are introduced into the discussion.  In Mark’s gospel he, likewise, mentions false prophets in the same verse as false messiahs.

 

What about the “false prophets”?

 

“… 10 Then many will be led into sin, and they will betray one another and hate one another.  11 And many false prophets will appear and deceive many,  12 and because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold.  13 But the person who endures to the end will be saved. …”

 

Contrary to what most people think, “prophets” are not necessarily people who foretell the future.  The more common meaning of “prophet” is as a term which refers to someone who claims to speak for God.  It is not limited to simply those who literally proclaim themselves to be prophets.  Preachers, priests, pastors, Messianic rabbis, and basically any type of Christian or counterfeit Messianic leader are all included in the general definition of a “prophet”.

 

What Yeshua prophesied is exactly what has occurred!  However, before presenting my opinion of how it occurred I must first respond to a possible argument against it.  That argument would be with regards to the sequence of events prophesied by Yeshua and possibly also to whom the prophesy was intended.  After addressing that issue I will return to the noteworthy aspects of Yeshua's prophecy from Matthew 24:10-13.

 

Don't be misled by the sequence of events

 

As noted earlier, the sequence of events shown in Yeshua's Matthew 24 prophecy up to verse 24 are as follows:

 

• many coming in his name and misleading many.
• wars and rumors of wars.
• nation rising against nation
• kingdom rising against kingdom
• famines.
• earthquakes.
• his true followers being handed over to the authorities or killed.
• his true followers will be hated because of his name .
• many being led into sin.
• many being betrayed and hated.
• false prophets (more on this later).
• the increase in lawlessness (Torah violation) and how it will cause the love of many to grow cold.
• exhortation and encouragement to endure to the end in order to be saved.
• prophecy about the spreading of the actual good news (gospel) to all the earth.
• then the end will come.
• the abomination of desolation.
• various other warnings concerning the hardships of the very last days before he comes.

 

As written, it would first appear to many readers that these events will occur in sequential order and are intended for his disciples to whom he was specifically speaking as well as to anyone else over the centuries.  However, it is actually difficult for the casual reader to really know to whom the prophecies apply since there appear to be chronological inconsistencies.  Care must be given to application of the passages while comparing them to known facts of history as well as to events that have yet happened.

 

Luke's gospel provides some clarity

 

To aid us in clarifying who Yeshua intended to be the focus of this rapid flurry of prophecies in response to his disciples' question it helps to consider parallel passages from Luke's gospel which provide more insight as to when and to whom they apply.  Luke, being an educated physician of the time, was quite meticulous in his writing.  We also see this in the book of Acts which was also authored by Luke.  Luke's care in preserving the historic record serves us well in this case as it does in Acts regarding numerous other New Testament topics.

​A primary purpose for my jumping over to Luke's gospel is to provide support for the first point I intend to make regarding the last passages from the gospel Matthew which we were discussing.  I anticipate an argument of opposition which, using Luke's gospel, I will easily refute.  More on that later when we return to the gospel of Matthew.

I present the Luke passages from the NET Bible which are accompanied within that translation by summarization headings.  Though I generally loathe such summaries since they tend to bias the reader, in this case they are correct and useful to our present discussion.  Similar summaries are found in other translations such as the RSV, NRSV, and NASB.  Pay attention to the bold and underlined text within the verses.  It is the key to figuring out for whom the prophecies were intended.  It also must be remembered that the passages begin with his disciples talking among themselves.  The bracketed text is added for clarity.

 

Luke 21:5-27 (NET)

The Signs of the End of the Age

5 Now while some were speaking about the temple, [some disciples] how it was adorned with beautiful stones and offerings, Jesus said, 6 “As for these things that you are gazing at, the days will come when not one stone will be left on another. All will be torn down!” 7 So they [the disciples talking among themselves] asked him, “Teacher, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that these things are about to take place?” 8 He said, “Watch out that you are not misled. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them! 9 And when you hear of wars and rebellions, do not be afraid. For these things must happen first, but the end will not come at once.”

 

Persecution of Disciples

10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, and famines and plagues in various places, and there will be terrifying sights and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you, handing you over to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will be a time for you to serve as witnesses. 14 Therefore be resolved not to rehearse ahead of time how to make your defense. 15 For I will give you the words along with the wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will have some of you put to death. 17 You will be hated by everyone because of my name. 18 Yet not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.

 

The Desolation of Jerusalem

20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 21 Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Those who are inside the city must depart. Those who are out in the country must not enter it, 22 because these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. 23 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away as captives among all nations. Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

 

The Arrival of the Son of Man

25 “And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth nations will be in distress, anxious over the roaring of the sea and the surging waves. 26 People will be fainting from fear and from the expectation of what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man arriving in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 But when these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

 

The signs of the end of the age: verses 5-9

 

5 Now while some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and offerings, Jesus said, 6 “As for these things that you are gazing at, the days will come when not one stone will be left on another. All will be torn down!” 7 So they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that these things are about to take place?” 8 He said, “Watch out that you are not misled. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them! 9 And when you hear of wars and rebellions, do not be afraid. For these things must happen first, but the end will not come at once.”

 

The first thing to note is that the entire conversation began with a question about what Yeshua had said about the Temple.  The disciples wanted to Yeshua to explain that specific statement.  He does and then expands far beyond the context of the original inquiry into prophecies of things to come which extend to the very end of this age and the beginning of the Messianic age which will be ushered in by his return.

 

This first section of his response is among the most general of the prophecies in chapter 21 of Luke's gospel and have no precise time-frame for fulfillment.

 

• Yeshua began with the very general warning about many who would could come "... in my [his] name ...", etc.
• He told of coming wars and rebellions (very general)
• He then gave a notable clue to the timing when he said those things  would happen "first" or "at the first" or "before".  However, was he referring to just the sentence about wars and rebellions or everything found in verse 8?  I believe it to be both since both began to happen at that time and are still happening today.

This opinion is supported by his direct statement that they "..will not come at once...".  The implication is that those events did not signify that the end was soon to come or at the same time (all at once), but that instead those events in particular would continue to happen over a long period of time.   In other words, Yeshua was most likely indicating that they would begin as one of the "first" events yet continue indefinitely.

 

Indeed, history (Acts in particular) solidly implies that there were people not truly among his followers who began to go out "in his name" soon after his resurrection.  There was also unrest, rebellions, defiance, insurgencies, and ultimately war between Rome and Israel that were percolating even during Yeshua's lifetime.  There were even rebellions and unrest among the Jewish people themselves.  All of this is proven from the historic record and happened - or more precisely, began to happen - during the lifetimes of most of the disciples.  Their lifetimes lasted right up to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple.  They were, therefore, among the "first" things yet "the end" did not come "at once".

 

Persecution of disciples: verses 10-19

 

10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, and famines and plagues in various places, and there will be terrifying sights and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you, handing you over to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will be a time for you to serve as witnesses. 14 Therefore be resolved not to rehearse ahead of time how to make your defense. 15 For I will give you the words along with the wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will have some of you put to death. 17 You will be hated by everyone because of my name. 18 Yet not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.

 

In my opinion, verses ten and eleven belong to the more general previous section for the reasons described previously.  Obviously, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, earthquakes, famines, plagues, etc. have been occurring continuously before, since, and after Yeshua spoke those words.  Therefore, I will not waste time on those passages since they are clearly a general prophecy with no uniquely specific time of fulfillment.

 

Verse twelve, however, begins an important section of Yeshua's prophecy that applied specifically to the disciples (apostles) and earliest followers.  In these verses Yeshua begins to transfer focus of his prophecy directly to the disciples themselves as well as to his original followers in general.

 

• He stated  "... before all this ...", which indicates what he was about to say applies to a particular time in history immediately following his death and resurrection.
• He then directly addressed what was to occur to them - the disciples and earliest followers.  This is plainly indicated by his repeated use of the pronouns "... you ..." and "... your ..." and is an undeniable grammatical fact.
• As will be seen in the next section of his prophecy, the "you" and "your" pronouns quickly progress from originally referring to only the disciples (apostles) and the very first followers to referring to all of his earliest original followers who lived during and shortly after the time of the disciples.  It is decidedly evident to anyone who knows the book of Acts, which is the most unadulterated history available of the earliest followers of Yeshua, as well as anyone  who is aware of secular history of the first few centuries of the common era.
• The definite discrete application to those original followers continues all the way into verse twenty-four.  In fact, Luke's rendition of Yeshua's response to the disciples specific question largely presents a more limited and specific answer that doesn't deviate as much as we see in Matthew's and Mark's gospels.

​IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE:  Those who claim that deviation or differences in the recording of various New Testament events is evidence that the New Testament is false or corrupt should realize (and probably actually do) that just as with other records of history, deviation is useful and even desired since it allows individual components of the events from differing perspectives to be combined into a more thorough picture.  The combination provides the construction of a much more accurate understanding of the history.  Every archaeologist, paleontologist, historian, and any other detective of history knows this to be true.  Therefore, anyone who suggests that normal deviation within the New Testament seen from distinctly separate individual writers somehow proves it to be false are either biased hypocrites, idiots, wicked liars, or a combination of all three.  Possibly the  worst of these liars, sadly, are Judaism based counter missionaries since Judaism's material contains precisely the same sort of deviations; however, foolishly ignorant and biased anti-Paulists are possibly even worse.

I will not delve into the details of what Yeshua prophesies in verses 12 through 19.  The Book of Acts and secular history prove that everything he said would occur, did occur.  The history recorded in Acts, taken by itself, evidences examples of partial fulfillment.

​I do, however, want to draw attention to the portions of his words which mention synagogues among the elements by which they would be persecuted.  Furthermore, notice that he mentions they would be betrayed by close acquaintances, including family members.  And who is is speaking of here?  He is speaking of early followers who would be living within the near-term, i.e within decades and at most a couple of centuries.   This "synagogue" component of the persecution endured by Yeshua's early followers is a primary evidential proof I wish to emphasize to support what I will shortly detail from Matthew's record.

The desolation of Jerusalem: verses 20-24

 

20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 21 Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Those who are inside the city must depart. Those who are out in the country must not enter it, 22 because these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. 23 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away as captives among all nations. Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

 

The intent of this discussion is not to discuss the history of Jerusalem's' destruction; therefore, I will not delve into proving these verses to be what occurred.  Any simple study of history proves it to be an utterly precise and accurate prophecy from Yeshua.  In fact his prophecy has seen continual fulfillment up to this very day since "the times of the Gentiles (nations)" are not yet "fulfilled."  When that time comes - and it is very soon - Jerusalem will be freed from her oppressors, just as Yeshua stated.

​Odd, is it not, how Judaism biased opponents of Yeshua and the New Testament never spend any time on material such as these verses since they prove Yeshua's prophetic power as well as support credibility of the New Testament as a whole.

The arrival of the son of man: verses 25-28

 

25 “And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth nations will be in distress, anxious over the roaring of the sea and the surging waves. 26 People will be fainting from fear and from the expectation of what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man arriving in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 But when these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

 

As with verses 20-24, I will not delve into these verse since it they are outside the scope of this article.  I will only say that they are being fulfilled in our present day with accelerated frequency; therefore, GET READY!

 

Returning now to Matthew's gospel with the benefit of Luke's record

 

Matthew states that “many” false prophets will arise, which refers to the fact that a very large number of such false teachers was intended in Messiah’s prophecy.  (Indeed there have been and are.)  But perhaps more importantly, notice the immediate context in which they are mentioned.  He states:

 

“… 10 Then many will be led into sin, and they will betray one another and hate one another.  11 And many false prophets will appear and deceive many,  12 and because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold.  13 But the person who endures to the end will be saved. …”

 

The arrangement of the events depicted by Yeshua is noteworthy.

 

1. First, people will be led into sin (transgression of Torah), then betray and hate on another.
2. Next, a large number of false prophets – those claiming to speak for God – will then appear and deceive a very large number of people.
3. Finally, because “lawlessness” will increase, the love of many will grow cold.  (Greek for lawlessness = anomia, which we prove in the article, Does Christianity truly "follow Christ"?, means “contempt or violation of Torah”)

 

First: "many led into sin ... they will betray and hate" - Judaism's profound role in the rise of "antichrist"

 

Note that Yeshua qualified the betrayal and hatred that would be seen with the term "one another".  Those earliest followers of Yeshua were dominated by Jews.  In fact, the first non-Jewish follower did not arrive on the scene until Cornelius, which is detailed in the Acts of the apostles.  The "one another" refers primarily to fellow Jews, which no doubt included close acquaintances and even family members who "ratted out" or informed against their own friends and relatives.  This hearkens back to Luke's account in Luke 21:16 in which he recorded Yeshua saying:

 

"... You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, ..."

 

How was this betrayal and hatred manifested?

 

Here is one definite way proven by the facts of history.  Only a few decades following Yeshua's resurrection as more and more Jews joined Yeshua Judaism, the pure, corrected and reformed Torah faith brought down from Heaven by Yeshua, extremely virulent anti-Yeshua segments of the Pharisees who despised the "God is impartial" message of Yeshua Judaism realized something had to be done.  Among those anti-Yeshua Pharisees were the tannaim - supremely revered rabbis whose opinions are recorded in the Mishnah and whom Judaism, practically speaking, deifies as infallible men.  Their desire for power and control was being directly threatened by the popularity of Yeshua Judaism; therefore, they had to "stem the flow" of Jews into the less burdensome, less elitist, and more loving and inclusive Yeshua Judaism.  Those fierce opponents of Yeshua Judaism therefore officially, literally, and permanently codified the betrayal and hatred of their Jewish brethren who revered Yeshua into their completely new "rabbinic Judaism" religion . [NOTE: Yeshua Judaism - the faith of and in Yeshua - actually predates rabbinic Judaism!]

 

They did this during the reign of then "nasi" (chief rabbi) rabbi Gamiliel II by adding a vindictive and hateful curse of Yeshua's followers and others to the Amidah prayer (the "standing" prayer).  The Amidah prayer, a prayer of central importance in rabbinic Judaism, is said daily by devout Jews and is a major component of synagogue services then a now.  It was done to force Yeshua's followers out of the synagogues and as a means to identify those who followed Yeshua so that they could be persecuted.

 

How did it accomplish its goal of ridding the synagogues of Yeshua's followers?  Two ways.

 

1. The followers of Yeshua would not voice the portion of the Amidah prayer in which the newly added curse was found since to do so would be pronouncing a severe curse upon themselves!  Therefore, some undoubtedly ceased attending.
2. Those who remained were identified (informed against) by acquaintances as well as by individual's within the synagogue who were tasked with observing the attendees as the Amidah was being voiced aloud by the congregation.  Anyone observed not voicing the "curse" portion was cast out of the synagogue since, obviously, they were followers of Yeshua or of the other groups whom the curse targeted.  Both the New Testament and secular history record this "casting out of the synagogues" as a factual occurrence.  It can even be found buried within Judaism's own literature.

​That unconscionable and inexcusable curse, which literally wishes death and to be "blotted out of the book of life" towards Yeshua's followers and others whom they hated, constituted a massive betrayal and brutal baseless hatred against fellow Jews, among whom were numerous followers of Yeshua.  Amazingly, it was an act Yeshua prophesied would occur even before Yeshua Judaism had appeared!

I will elaborate on the historic facts of the added curse within the Amidah in a separate discussion.  It needs to be done since there is now a growing effort to deceitfully rewrite history in order to cover up the extreme betrayal and hatred perpetrated by those misled rabbis who largely laid the first foundation stones upon which the later newly formed religion of "rabbinic" Judaism was constructed.  However, since Judaism's own literature and rabbis clearly and often state that the purpose of the curse was largely to force Yeshua's followers from the synagogues, the effort to cover it up will not succeed except among those who simply refuse to recognized the facts of history and who seem determined to excuse away any and all errors within rabbinic Judaism.  Their effort in this case shows that they will not hesitate to falsify the historic record.

 

Second: false prophets appear and deceive many

 

11 And many false prophets will appear and deceive many,

 

Secondly, and following the acts of betrayal and hatred by ferocious anti-Yeshua elements of the Pharisees who survived the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple, a very large number of false prophets ("Christian" leaders) appeared and took control of the fledgling "Yeshua Judaism" faith.  There were at least two primary reasons for this, and I would submit a third potential reason:

 

1. Driven from the synagogues and probably with no official synagogue in which to meet since the anti-Yeshua Pharisees had probably taken control of many of them, the followers of Yeshua were likely in a state of disarray, depression, confusion, and scattered.  As such, and with probable banishment from where Torah scrolls were located for study, Torah knowledgeable leadership among Yeshua's followers probably began to rapidly diminish.  Remember, Torah scrolls were precious and rare.  The only places they could be found were likely at the very synagogues from which Yeshua's followers were banished.  That was likely most - if not all - synagogues since the political pressure to censor and drive away Yeshua's followers was strongly pushed by the elitist and often wealthy Pharisaic (among whom were tannaim) opponents of Yeshua.
2. The persecution from Rome was underway.  Since the majority of Yeshua's original followers were Jews who revered and observed the Torah, they were slaughtered and persecuted every bit as much as any other Torah keeping Jew.  This added to the reduction of Torah scholars among Yeshua's followers.
3. Third possible reason in my opinion: The emperor who followed Emperor Hadrian, one of the most vicious persecutors of the Jewish people shortly following Jerusalem's destruction, was his son Emperor Antoninus.  Antoninus was a very close friend of a famously exalted rabbi of that time, Rabbi Yehudah haNasi (rabbi Judah the prince), the fabulously wealthy rabbi and compiler of the Mishnah.  Rabbi Yehudah was among those who most despised Yeshua's followers and who supported the curse against them.

 

During the reign of Antoninus the Torah keeping Jews enjoyed a time of peace.  Indeed, it was because of that decades long period of peace that the "oral Torah" was able to be compiled.  I wonder ... since Emperor Antoninus heeded the words of his dear and revered friend rabbi Yehudah, is it possible that the rabbi encouraged that less "peace" be shown the separate Torah keeping Jews who followed Yeshua?

 

I do not yet have any proof that this occurred; however, rabbi Yehudah's hatred for such Jews was prominently obvious by his hearty support for the recently added curse within the Amidah prayer.   Additionally, rabbi Yehudah, who is celebrated as the central figure responsible for gathering and compiling the oral Torah (Mishnah), prohibited any oral Torah components of the Pharisees who followed Yeshua from being included in the subsequent Mishnah of rabbinic Judaism.  Rodkinson's abridged version of the Talmud discusses this censorship and the biased method of compiling used by rabbi Yehudah.  So this third possible reason has merit as definitely being possible.

 

Therefore, If this third possibility occurred, the continuing persecution of the followers of Yeshua during those supposed times of peace would have diminished their numbers even more, including the number of Torah scholars among them capable of being leaders.

 

As a result, because the numbers of remaining Torah keeping followers of Yeshua would have grown increasingly bereft of Torah scholars capable of properly leading them, Torah ignorant men would have stepped in to fill the void.  Thus, the faith of and in Yeshua slowly began to be overtaken by Torah ignorant leaders whose world views and conceptual understandings of religion were largely based upon Roman empire paganism.

​This tragic apostasy ultimately led to a belief system which is now represented as "Christianity" - a faith founded entirely upon opposition to Torah and idolatrous worship of a "God in the flesh".  However, it needs to be realized that this apostasy was a direct result of the betrayal and hatred of their Jewish brethren by Judaism's tannaim.  Yes.  Judaism's most highly revered rabbis -  because of the baseless hatred they demonstrated against Yeshua's original followers -  are largely responsible for Christianity's severe errors.

Lastly: lawlessness (contempt or violation of Torah) increases, love of man grows cold

 

12 and because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold.  13 But the person who endures to the end will be saved. …”

 

So as people were and are being further led into sin due to Christianity's foundational anti-Torah position, false prophets did, do, and, will multiply.  Their teachings accelerate the condition of lawlessness (contempt for, or violation of Torah).  The final result of the abandonment of Torah was and is that “the love of many will grow cold.”

 

The tyrannical, terrorist history of Christianity profoundly illustrates in as direct a manner as possible  the fulfillment of Yeshua s prophecy.  The horror-filled, devilish, dictatorial tyranny of Christianity spanned more that 1000 years!  In fact, it could be argued that it lasted over 1500 years.

 

Those who endure in their dedicated rejection of this progression from sin, to the appearance of a large number of false prophets, to the resulting lack of love among mankind for God or one another, will be saved.

 

Sadly, very few have been shown to possess such endurance.  However, the good news is that there is still time to repent and develop dedication and endurance.  It’s your choice.  Endure and be saved, or face the consequences of embracing error and the false prophets who promote it.

 

Yeshua's prophecy was precisely fulfilled

​It is no coincidence that the chronology of events about which Yeshua prophesied is exactly what occurred.  As Judaism's adored tannaim exercised betrayal and baseless hatred towards their fellow Jews to drive Yeshua's followers from the synagogues, those followers began to be taken over by Torah opposing Hellenists Jews or gentiles who embraced pagan Rome.  The resulting Torah opposing idolatrous religion of "Christianity" then for many centuries undertook what history proves to be the longest lasting (1000 to 1500 years) and most horrific orgy of terror and tyranny that mankind has ever known?  No, it is not a coincidence.  It is simply partial fulfillment of Messiah Yeshua’s prophecies.

Legitimate punctuation reveals who is misleading you

 

Now let us return to the punctuation issue.  You may ask, “So what?  What does it matter where the punctuation is placed?”.

 

First, remember from earlier in the discussion:

​The punctuation which determines the sentence structure and often even the meaning of a passage is not actually present in the Greek manuscripts from which the New Testament is produced. It is placed there by those who translate the Bible. It is a “best guess” at rendering the passages in a way suited to what the translators feel is the original intent of the verse.

Depending upon where punctuation is placed a verse can have very different meanings. Let us take a look at a few of the previously quoted passages as an example.  As we do this, please pay particular attention to the fact that the punctuation, not the actual words, forces the understanding that most Christians have with respect to the verses shown from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. This is a case where punctuation is of extreme importance if one wishes to understand what the passages actually teach.

 

As I learned more about how terribly incorrect Christian teachings are, I returned to those verses from Matthew and saw them in an entirely different and much more logical way. I will demonstrate by slightly altering the punctuation to present another legitimate rendering. I will do so without changing a single word. Instead, I will delicately alter the “best guess” of biased New Testament translators to produce a rendering that is every bit as legitimate as theirs. I have underlined the location of this change.

 

I will first quote the passages with the punctuation as it appears in most Bibles; then, I will follow it with the slightly altered, yet equally legitimate punctuation.  And as I said, I will not change a single word of the passages.  Please pay attention to the punctuation.  It may help while reading the passages to emphasize the punctuation where is it present and - perhaps more importantly - ignoring it where it is absent.

 

First, the verses from Matthew’s gospel:

Matthew 24:4-5 (NET)

4 Yeshua answered them, “Watch out that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many.”

Matthew 24:4,5 (NET – slightly altered punctuation)

4 Yeshua answered them, “Watch out that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come in my name saying I am the Christ, and they will mislead many.”

 

Next we read from Mark’s gospel:

Mark 13:5-6 (NET)

5 Yeshua began to say to them, “Watch out that no one misleads you. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and they will mislead many.”

Mark 13:5,6 (NET – slightly altered punctuation)

5 Yeshua began to say to them, “Watch out that no one misleads you. 6 Many will come in my name saying I am he, and they will mislead many.”

 

And finally, we finish with Luke’s gospel:

Luke 21:8 (NET)

8 He said, “Watch out that you are not misled. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them!”

Luke 21:8 (NET – slightly altered punctuation)

8 He said, “Watch out that you are not misled. For many will come in my name saying I am he and the time is near. Do not follow them!”

 

With those very subtle changes, primarily the removal of the quotes that enclose the phrases "I am the Christ” and “I am he”, the verses now take on distinctly different meanings and the actual warning for us from Yeshua conflicts with what is universally taught within Christianity.

 

When the “few many” problem is considered, along with the equally legitimate possible punctuation, it becomes rather obvious regarding whom Yeshua is actually warning us to “Watch out …” for so that we will not be "...misled...".  Now the warning is for us to beware of those who rightly claim that he, Yeshua, is Messiah because despite that truth, they nevertheless mislead!  When the “few many” understanding is considered, it becomes rather obvious.

​The warning is not because they are wrong to identify him as anointed by God. Instead the warning is because even though they are correct regarding that issue, they will “mislead many” by their many other teachings – most notably their anti-Torah teachings and idolatrous worship of a “God in the flesh”.  All their misleading teachings are done in his name. (actually in the false name “Jesus”) Yeshua’s warning, on which I elaborate further within an article proving that Christianity does not teach to follow Messiah, is that those about whom he warns us would not be claiming to be him but would be coming “in his name” (in the name of Christ).  Furthermore, they would be promoting false teachings and heresies “in his name”. Indeed, that is precisely what traditional Christianity has done for over 1700 years, and those who have come to an actual knowledge of the truth clearly recognize this as being the case. Yeshua specifically warns us to not follow them – as stated in Luke, “Do not follow them!”. He directly warns us against following those who come in his name yet promote false teachings such as the foundational anti-Torah teachings of Christianity – teachings which directly oppose the pro-Torah message and life of Yeshua.

This is somewhat supported by the fact that later in verses 23 and 24 of that same chapter in Matthew as well as later within the gospel of Mark, Yeshua directly warns about false messiahs. Is he warning again within the same conversation as Christianity teaches? Why would he need to repeat himself? Or is he actually warning about actual false messiahs for the first time in his conversation in only those later verses? It all depends upon the punctuation used in verses 5, 6, and 8 of Matthew, Mark, and Luke respectively.

 

No one can say with absolute certainty which punctuation is correct. Anyone claiming otherwise is a liar or simply ignorant; however, the fact that there have not been “many” false messiahs, combined with the facts regarding Christianity’s actions over the last 1700 years, very strongly support that the alternate punctuation I suggested is more accurate. History proves quite directly and consistently that Christianity has come “in his name” spreading terror until relatively recently and promoting numerous extremely incorrect teachings.

​It is truly amazing how precisely Yeshua’s warnings in Matt. 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 fit the conditions that have prevailed within Christianity’s infamously brutal history – a history of which most Christians are entirely ignorant and apathetic.  Their apathy or often even embrace of Christianity’s history makes them passive supporters of such terror, which is one reason many in the world despise Christians despite the fact contemporary Christians are generally entirely innocent of the atrocities that have been inflicted by Christianity.

Contemporary Christianity's failure to understand "Messiah"

 

Though it is a topic reserved for another discussion, Yeshua could have also been warning us to avoid those who claim that he was at that time the “Messiah ben David” or “Christ, son of David” since before his death and resurrection that is something he was not. Having ancestry that goes through King David is only one of the requirements for “Messiah ben David”. Yeshua met that requirement, but the state of the world that must exist during the messianic reign of Messiah ben David most certainly did not happen. It is for that reason Judaism rejects Yeshua as having been “Messiah ben David”.

​NOTE:  Before you assume that I do not accept Yeshua as Messiah ben David, continue reading.  I very much do believe he is and also believe the New Testament teaches it.  However, the New Testament still does not teach that at that specific time in history he fulfilled the role as Messiah ben David.  It is actually referring to a future scenario.  Continue reading in order to understand.

“Messiah ben David” or “Christ, son of David” is a term which represents the definition of THE “Messiah” hinted at within the Tanakh (Older Testament). It is also the understanding of “Messiah” as commonly established within Judaism. He will be a King and unequaled Torah Sage.  In fact, his role as an unprecedented and unparalleled Torah teacher is never mentioned within Christianity's erroneous understanding because Christianity is fundamentally anti-Torah.  Messiah ben David will also subdue all enemies of Israel and bring peace to the world during a period known as one or all of the following:

 

• The Messianic age
• The millennial reign
• The Sabbath millennium
• The thousand year reign,
• etc.

 

A detailed discussion of “Messiah ben David” is not an objective of this article. The primary point to understand is that “Messiah ben David” represents the second of two Messiahs revealed in Torah whose rule will end the suffering for God’s people and bring lasting world peace, neither of which has occurred.  Therefore, it is an obvious common sense fact of history that Yeshua definitely was not “Messiah ben David” either during his life or after his death and resurrection 2000 years ago; however, he did fit many characteristics which identify him as the first of the two Messiahs, “Messiah ben Yosef” (Messiah son of Joseph).

​“Messiah ben Yosef” is an enigmatic character sometimes spoken of within Judaism's oral Torah, and few people - Jew or Christian - are aware of this mysterious figure.  I will very briefly discuss this a bit later.

There are other actions “Messiah ben David” will bring to pass, but world peace and the defeat of Israel’s enemies are among the most important. Those crucial and necessary signs which identify Messiah ben David have not yet been evidenced; consequently, Yeshua at that time was NOT Messiah ben David. However, that does not mean that he is not Messiah.

 

Christianity rightly promotes that Yeshua was and is “Christ” or “Messiah”; however, they generally promote him as Christ, “son of God”, and it is rare to hear a Christian label him as Christ, “son of David” (Messiah ben David).  Worse still, contemporary Christianity and counterfeit Messianism go far beyond the bounds of the Bible and reason by promoting him to be “God the Son” despite the fact that the term “God the Son” is nowhere found in the pages of the Bible.

​Basically, most Christians are quite ignorant of the Biblical concept of “Messiah”, and that ignorance is largely due to the focus upon Messiah or Christ as being “God in the flesh”. The legitimate “Messiah” understanding gets whitewashed, overshadowed, distorted, and suppressed by the “God in the flesh Christ” error Christianity promotes. The Christian concept of “Messiah” is an adaptation and repackaging of pagan Roman mythology instead of Biblical truth.

I will not elaborate at this time. Suffice it to say that Christianity has done a woefully poor job of educating Christians on the proper definition and characteristics of “Messiah”.  To be blunt, most Christians are ignorant of the correct Hebraic understanding of “Messiah” as defined or suggested by the Bible.

 

Yeshua's role as Messiah ben David is for the future

 

Yeshua’s role and activities as Messiah ben David are actually reserved for the future. When he was here 2000 years ago he was not “Messiah ben David” because the Divine Plan of The Eternal God did not decree that to occur then even though in a future sense he could be and was labeled as such within the New Testament.

 

It must be understood that the Hebraic/Judaic mindset recognizes that in the Plan of God the past, present, and future are seen as one grand stage of existence. The Eternal God operates outside the boundaries of time and space and sees the beginning, the end, and all there is between simultaneously. He sees infinity – a domain that He alone occupies – as an instant and is not restricted by it or anything else. The Eternal One who creates the limits cannot be limited.

​Therefore, just because the New Testament may at times attribute to Yeshua the title of “Messiah ben David” does not mean it was literally applicable at that time in history. On the issue of the physical and literal presence in creation’s time of Messiah ben David – past, present, or future – Judaism has been correct and Christianity incorrect.

Yeshua knew who he was. He knew the acts of Messiah ben David were reserved for a specific time in the future that he admitted was unknown to him (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32, Acts 1:7). By the way, that lack of knowledge is yet more proof that he was not, is not, and never will be The Eternal Creator God.

 

Acts 1:6,7 is particularly revealing:

 

Acts 1:6-7 (NET)

6 So when they had gathered together, they began to ask him, “Lord, is this the time when you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He told them, “You are not permitted to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.”

 

Note how the disciples specifically asked “is this the time” when Yeshua was going to restore the kingdom to Israel. They at that point wrongly assumed that his role as Messiah ben David was for that period in history. Remember, they had not yet been given the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh, or Divine Inspiration). That occurred a bit later. Restoring the kingdom is, perhaps, the primary act that “Messiah ben David” will accomplish. For certain it is one of the primary acts. Yeshua’s answer settled the issue with his simple reply. He replied with an implicit yet obvious “No” which was proven to be explicitly correct and continued with his reference to “times and periods” that are set by the Eternal Father. In so doing he removed any doubt regarding the fact that he was NOT at that time tasked with restoring the kingdom and, therefore, was NOT at that time “Messiah ben David”.

​Much damage has been done, particularly with regard to Jewish acceptance of Yeshua, by those who advance the error that he was (versus will be) Messiah ben David. Unlike most Christians, those within Judaism know he did not fulfill hardly any of the necessary prophecies that point to his being Messiah ben David, and that is a major reason for their continual rejection of him.

Two Messiahs concept and Yeshua's potential to be both

 

Few people realize that within the teachings of Judaism there are actually two separate and distinct Messiahs. It is a teaching of which even many Jews are not aware. Generally speaking, these two Messiah’s are assumed to be two different individuals; however, even Judaism cannot entirely discount the possibility that the two Messiahs may actually be one Messiah who will accomplish the tasks of both. The rabbis of Judaism will undoubtedly deny this. Nevertheless, even they must and do admit that the details regarding Messiah, particularly “Messiah ben Yosef”, are speculative and clouded within mysteries that they do not know.

 

The idea that the same individual could fulfill the roles of both Messiah ben David and Messiah ben Yosef is even more logical if Judaism's concept of reincarnation (gilgul) is applied in which it is taught that a soul can return to fulfill necessary tasks that were not fulfilled in a previous life (or multiple lives).

 

It is commonly taught that Elijah will literally return; therefore, why is it considered impossible that Messiah could do the same?  Likewise, there are those within Judaism who will identify various past Torah sages are reincarnations of previous individuals.  For instance, I have seen how some believe Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, an illustrious and supremely gifted sage, was a reincarnation of Moshe (Moses) through whom The Eternal One gave Torah to mankind at Mt. Sinai.  Therefore, the idea that Yeshua Messiah ben Yosef could return as Yeshua Messiah ben David is very definitely not outside the realm of possibility despite what the rabbis of Judaism may disingenuously claim.

 

I will not delve into the details of each of the two Messiah concepts within this discussion, except to say that any rabbi or Judaic leader who categorically rejects as impossible that both Messiah’s could be the same person or at least the same soul placed in two separate bodies is dishonest, applying a double-standard to their teachings, and blinded by unreasonable and often elitist bias.

 

The two Messiah’s about whom Judaism teaches are:

 

1. Messiah ben Yosef (Christ, son of Joseph) – primarily a suffering servant
2. Messiah ben David (Christ, son of David) – primarily a human Savior-King who will bring about world peace and spread the knowledge of God (Torah).  Actually, the spreading of Torah throughout all the earth will be his primary function during the sabbath millennium of his reign.

 

Though Judaism will not admit it, Yeshua was and did fulfill much of what is to be accomplished by the mysterious “Messiah ben Yosef (Joseph)” and the atoning work of a “completed tzaddik” (perfectly righteous person) as taught from the deeper understandings of Torah. (Most Jews do not even know of those deeper understandings.) I touch upon the atonement through a completed tzaddik in the article linked to from within this sentence. “Messiah ben Yosef” (Christ, son of Joseph) is the “suffering servant” figure discussed within the deeper wisdom literature of Torah.

​Therefore, Yeshua may have been warning of the false teachings within Christianity that label him to have been Messiah ben David at that time which was not the time for his fulfillment of those prophecies.

Yeshua’s warnings were proven accurate

 

It is truly astounding how the persecutions Yeshua warns of in the previously referenced areas of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are largely what Christianity has heaped upon the Jewish people who have resisted the severely flawed teachings that Yeshua is “God in the flesh”, that Torah is abolished, and that he was at that time Messiah ben David. He may very well have been warning his Jewish followers of persecution by future Christians (relative to the time he was speaking). Those Christians he may have been warning about would (and did) divorce themselves from the actual Torah based truths, come “in his name” spreading monstrous errors, and terrorize countless Jews and others who cling to Torah and the One True God.

 

Is it simply a coincidence that Yeshua’s prophetic warning is exactly what happened and continues to happen to this very day? No. It is not coincidence since there are no coincidences in God’s Perfect Plan.

 

Christians would argue that Yeshua’s statements were a prophecy of a brief period in history which saw terrible persecution of Christians. Those persecutions ended, more or less, with emperor Constantine, and soon thereafter in the annals of history Christianity became the persecuTOR, not the persecutED. Furthermore, “Christians” were from that point forward very different in faith and practice than were the earliest “Christians”.

 

A short history lesson you will not hear in church:

 

The persecution of Christians reached its peak in the very early centuries when “Christianity” was not simply very different than today in form and practice, but was indeed a sect of Judaism! What is ignored or generally unknown to most Christians is that many of those early “Christians” who had to endure atrocities were primarily followers of Yeshua who revered Torah either as fully Torah observant Jews or Noahide gentiles, often worshiped in synagogues, and in general had many similarities to Judaism with regard to their fundamental beliefs.

 

Noahides, or Noachides, are “God fearing” gentiles who adhere to the seven laws of Noah given after the flood and who also have deep reverence for Torah since Noahide laws include much that comprises Torah. We strongly believe they are Torah students “in training” and that the Noachide condition should be temporary, with true lovers of God intending to study and pursue the fullness of Torah. This is a major difference we have with Judaism and is part of the “impartiality of God” doctrine.

​The "God is impartial", anti-elitism, less burdensome, and more inclusive teachings of Yeshua Judaism were and still are the primary and true reasons why the commonly defined religion of Judaism rejects Yeshua and the much more loving expression of God's Torah that he brought down from Heaven.  They were the primary points of contention between the original followers of Yeshua and Judaism’s elitist minded leaders.  Any sincere and knowledgeable rabbi or practitioner of "Judaism" who says otherwise is being disingenuous.  Unfortunately, in most cases they are.

In the New Testament Noachides are referred to as those who “fear God” or are labeled as a “God fearing” person.  An example is Cornelius in Acts 10:1,2.  Noachides would often worship with or study with Jews since they relied upon the Jews to teach them the Torah and what from it is necessary for gentiles who do not fully embrace all Torah elements. This arrangement is demonstrated within the New Testament and directly described in James’ (Yacov’s) decision recorded in Acts chapter 15. Verse 20 presents an abbreviated version of the Noachide laws and was undoubtedly the intent of his statement.

 

Acts 15:19-21 (NET)

19 “Therefore I conclude that we should not cause extra difficulty for those among the Gentiles who are turning to God, 20 but that we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood. 21 For Moses has had those who proclaim him in every town from ancient times, because he is read aloud in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

 

The primary differences at that time were the Jewish and Noachide believers’ (Christians) acceptance of Yeshua as Messiah (but not as “God in the flesh”) versus regular Judaism’s rejection of him, and the greater openness to non-Jews that the faith of and in Yeshua proclaimed.  Basically, the followers of Yeshua taught God is truly impartial.  Judaism then and now definitely does not teach or believe that. It was those differences that ultimately led to the original followers of Yeshua leaving the synagogues, although they were largely driven out of the synagogues, as discussed earlier, by the more pedantic and elitist adherents to Judaism who rejected Yeshua and who later became even more pedantic, elitist, and enslaved by man-made  rabbanans (rabbinic decrees not found in Scripture).

 

The first and second century conflicts between Rome and Israel (Jews and anyone else who revered Torah) was when much of the “Christian” persecution occurred since at that time legitimate Christians and devout Jews within Judaism were barely distinguishable due to the similarities in their beliefs and worship practices. They had almost identical faith systems; therefore, the original Christians were persecuted along with the Jews. Of course, since there were a significant number of Torah observant Jews numbered among the early Christians, “Jewish” persecution included Jewish Christians and was for that reason “Christian” persecution.

​Let me state that again: Persecution of the Jews WAS persecution of the original Christians since their beliefs were almost identical.  Likewise, persecution of the original “Christians” WAS persecution of the Jews for the very same reason.  Hatred of Jews or hatred of Torah, primarily from the Romans at that time, applied equally to both.

So we once again encounter a falsity of Christianity. In this case the fabrication involves the falsifying of history. It is purposeful deceit with the goal being to benefit from the propagandizing of early Christian persecution. This was and is accomplished by referencing the legitimate horrors inflicted upon authentic Christians along with their Jewish brethren with one major alteration – an alteration with far reaching consequences.  The very term “Christian” was transformed by the propagandists – stolen and totally redefined to align with what the falsifiers wished Christians of later centuries to believe. The genuine Christians who were persecuted and whose characteristics were redefined by the propagandists followed a faith system that is very different than today’s version of Christianity and of the Christian historians (propagandists) who use such persecution to sell their falsehoods.

 

The ones who had been the persecutors seized the identity of “Christian” and then completely changed the “Christian” faith. It was an unscrupulous identity theft whereby the tormentors assumed the identity of the ones they had tormented.

 

Rome eradicated most of the original true Christians along with their teachers, suppressed any that were left, prohibited the faith and practices of that legitimate faith, stole the identity of “Christianity”, and fashioned that counterfeit faith to mirror its own image – the image of pagan Rome.

​Christianity as it has existed since the 4th century is essentially a fraud which severely distorts the person and mission of Yeshua the Messiah as well as the New Testament and, indeed, the entire Bible.

As I will discuss a bit later, it is a situation where a lie has been told for so long, so strongly, and so widely that it has become the truth in the minds of most people. And to insure that the lie remains the truth in the minds of such people, those who could prove it to be a lie were continually eliminated or in some other way prevented from exposing the lie.

 

UNTIL RECENTLY … The time has come for the revelation of truth and the exposing of traditional Christianity’s deceit and error.

 

End of history lesson …

 

So, even if Yeshua’s warning was to “Christians”, it still applies to the pro-Torah mindset that ultimately became the focus of Christianity’s tyranny. For certain the only people Yeshua was addressing in those passages were Torah observant Jews – his disciples. No gentiles were present to hear him.

 

As stated earlier, the facts of history definitely prove Yeshua’s prophecy to be what has occurred.  Why?  For the simple reason that if the longevity of Christianity’s terror spree (1000 to 1500 years) and the level of inhuman, decadent brutality is considered, Christianity holds the undisputed title of the most ruthless, unapologetic, and blood thirsty terrorist organization in the history of human existence.  No other group even comes close, and any Christian who thinks otherwise is either ignorant of Christianity’s history or a liar.

 

It saddens and frustrates me to see so many Christians flippantly ignore or refuse to admit that they are members of what history proves to be one of the most abominable terror institutions that has ever existed. When will they repent? When will they – or will they ever – acknowledge and actively make amends for the terror Christianity has wrought – most notably and horribly against the Jewish people – the very people of whom Yeshua is a blood relative? The first step is to stop ignoring it and to become aware of Christianity’s history of terror.

 

I will discuss the Messiah ben Yosef issue elsewhere as time and The Eternal One permit. Therefore, when referencing Yeshua within this discussion and others the term “Messiah” or “Christ” should be understood as referring to Messiah ben Yosef when he was here 2000 years ago and as Messiah ben David when he returns in the near future.

 

As you will see with further reading of this discussion, the overall evidence suggests that Yeshua was indeed warning us to beware even of those who rightly claim that he is Messiah. The alternate punctuation I demonstrated is much more likely to be the intended meaning of his dire prophecy. Yet even if that was not what he was warning us about, the warning is still needed and repeated in the New Testament within the context of the discussion of the “Antichrist”.

 

This concludes the preliminary discussion which supports what will now become the focus,.  We now begin to discuss the REAL definition of antichrist.

 

Actual Definition of “Antichrist”

What contemporary Christianity wishes to remain hidden in plain sight

 

There is a clear definition of the antichrist that Christianity seems to miss.  It is easily revealed from the writings of the New Testament.  Unfortunately, the fact that the word antichrist is actually an untranslated Greek word contributes to concealing who and what antichrist actually is.  If it were translated, at least some of the confusion regarding this important term would be eliminated.

 

Since the antichrist is portrayed by Christianity in a way that generally aligns it with various over-dramatized and speculative end-time events and fulfillments of the New Testament book of Revelation, it may be a surprise to learn that the term "antichrist" is found in only four verses within the first and second epistles of John.  "Antichrist" is nowhere mentioned in Revelation or anywhere else within the Bible other than John’s epistles.

 

In addition to wrongly applying Revelation to the false concept of antichrist, the “man of lawlessness” mentioned in Paul’s second letter to Thessalonica is also sometimes used to support an incorrect understanding as are other mysterious figures mentioned in Scripture.

 

The common false understanding of antichrist is a decoy, and I realize that from most people it is an unintentional decoy.  The mistake is caused by selectively choosing various passages of the Bible with which sensationalized and incorrect perceptions of antichrist are constructed.  The fact that the term antichrist is never mentioned within the context of most passages used to support their theories does not deter those who wrongly attribute such verses to their biased, inaccurate, and often wildly imaginative antichrist concepts.

 

Unfortunately, the simple definition of antichrist is lost among various theories regarding the “beast”, the “abomination of desolation”, the “man of lawlessness”, the “rapture” for those foolish enough to accept it, and other suspenseful, thrilling, and and nail-biting topics that focus upon the uncertainties of the future and that captures the interest and imagination of large numbers of people.

 

One problem for those who cling to such erroneous theories, however, is that antichrist is not a future event, at least not exclusively.  Antichrist has been present for almost two thousand years.  In fact, numerous antichrists have been present.  The primary antichrist has grown in power over that time and is now embraced by a large percentage of the world, just as is the "mark of the Beast".  There is no actual physical person who has or does represent antichrist mentioned within the New Testament.  However, severe misrepresentation of a genuine physical person does a specific and most important antichrist.

​“Antichrist”, as defined by most contemporary Christians and counterfeit Messianics, is a fictitious personality.  It is a lie that many in the world embrace as the truth.  It is one of the deceptions about which Yeshua warned when he responded to the question from his disciples in Matthew chapter 24 – one of numerous errors that the “many” false teachers who come in his name would use to mislead “many”. I prefer to focus upon what we can know, upon what effects me and everyone else today and has all throughout the last 1700 years, upon what I can directly confront and battle.  Each of those are possible with regard to antichrist.  We can know with certainty what “antichrist” is.  It has been hidden from us in plain sight for 1700 years while the “many” deceivers about whom Messiah warned us have worked to hide it, spread confusion and decoys, and misdirect the “many” being mislead towards accepting a false understanding of antichrist.

Forget the decoys.  Let’s go straight to the Bible instead.

 

Beginning with the passage from the first epistle of John I hope to assist in revealing to you the definition and identity of the antichrist.

 

1 John 4:2-3 (KJV)

2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Yeshua Messiah is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Yeshua Messiah is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

 

The NET Bible reads:

 

1 John 4:2-3 (NET)

2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world.

 

I have actually heard Christians promote the “God in the flesh” error by modifying their quote of these verses into reading as follows:

 

“…every spirit that confesseth that God is come in the flesh as Yeshua Messiah is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that God is come in the flesh as Yeshua Messiah is not of God…”

 

That is not what it says, despite the wishes of those who believe and teach that Messiah is God.  In fact, it doesn’t even hint at such an idea; yet some Christian leaders attempt to teach that it does. The wine of the great harlot's “God in the flesh” intoxication is so strong that many Christians seem to sincerely interpret this verse as saying what I just quoted.

 

A general error that finds it’s way into verses such as these as well as the minds of most Christians and counterfeit Messianics is the idea that “Son of God” means “God the Son”.  Nowhere in Scripture is “God the Son” found!  “God the Son” is the invention of the Roman great harlot’s later church creeds.

 

It is possible that the apostle John’s intent in 1 John 4:2.3 was to rebuke those who teach a “God in the flesh” Messiah.  At first glance the verses do appear to rebuke the notion that Yeshua was anything more than a 100 percent human being.

 

The Greek word that is translated as “flesh” in the verses just quoted is sarx (sarx), and the corresponding Hebrew word is basar (baw-sawr’).  Both words mean pure flesh and blood – fully human, instead of the human-God that contemporary Christianity and counterfeit Messianism promote.  There is nothing in the original Greek or the equivalent Hebrew term that implies anything more than 100 percent human flesh and blood.  In fact, the Greek word can even be translated – and is elsewhere – as carnal or carnally minded.

 

Contemporary Christian and counterfeit Messianic leaders love to misquote and distort scripture to fit their “God in the flesh” bias.  If distortion is the game, then let me play!  A more accurate example of distortion for 1 John 4:2,3 would be:

 

“Every spirit that confesses that Yeshua the Messiah is a 100% flesh-and-blood human is of God, and every spirit that confesses not that Yeshua the Messiah is a 100% flesh-and-blood human is not of God: and this is the spirit of antichrist…of which you have heard that it (false doctrines of Messiah) is coming, and now it is already in the world.”

 

However, unlike the Christian and counterfeit Messianic leaders, I do not wish to play distortion games by misstating what is taught within the Bible and forcing the text to conform to my opinions.  Therefore, despite the fact that a legitimate argument could be made in support of what I just quoted, I will not Join Christian leaders by indulging in deceptive verbal gymnastics.

 

We also see in these verses reference to a “spirit”.  I comment later on this “spirit” of antichrist.

 

Untranslated words: tools of deceivers

 

Furthermore, as stated periodically during this study, there is a Greek word in these verses that is left untranslated.  It is a word found in your English version Bible that the translators suspiciously and intentionally decided to not translate, and I believe it is for fear of what the literal meaning may cause some to consider. They could have easily translated this word as they did most others in the English versions, but they purposely chose to not do so.

 

Christianity has built an entire mini theology and melodramatic end-time teaching around this Greek word which they transferred into the English vocabulary.  Part of this sensationalized, gone-Hollywood scenario is the outlandishly unscriptural “rapture” teaching.

The Greek word is antichristos, rendered in its untranslated form in English as antichrist.

​Whenever you come across words that translators did not translate, such as antichrist, pay close attention.  Those are the very words on which you should place particular scrutiny. When you look up what the translation actually is you may likely find that the word means something traditional Christian leaders would prefer that you not discover.

The Greek word "anti" (Strong’s #473) is often used within the New Testament either as a prepositional phrase within a sentence or combined with another word as a prefix or suffix.  It is also at times somewhat of a basic underlying word for other words.  “Antichristos” (antichrist) is an example of it being used as a prefix.  Each time it is translated unless it is contained within a name or location.  The only word where anti is not translated is within the word antichrist.

 

Let me state that again.  Even I was stunned to discover how blatant is the deception practiced by New Testament translators as well as by contemporary Christian and counterfeit Messianic leaders.  It represents an overt and unapologetic example of deceit in the long list of deceit that exists within contemporary Christian teachings.

​The only word in the New Testament, other than a name, where the Greek term “anti” is left untranslated is the word antichrist. One must ask why?  Why was it intentionally left untranslated instead of being translated like every other word in which the Greek term anti is found?  It is very easily translated as shown below, but it wasn’t.  Why not?  The answer is actually undeniable. Translators engage in deception by refusing to translate the word or, perhaps, they simply bow to the powerful pressure of tradition.  Their intent is to purposely leave the term antichrist in a state of ambiguity. They do not want people to consider the truth that is revealed by simply translating the Greek word.  Instead, they want there to be vagueness or uncertainty so that the simple, clear meaning will be missed.  They want to maintain and even feed the deception that exists with regard to the commonly accepted imaginary and false understanding of  antichrist.

It is a bit odd that the word antichrist was left untranslated since it is very easily rendered into an English equivalent.  This is similar to the scenario of baptizo, which is another untranslated Greek word that was transferred into English as “baptize”. I will use the example of baptizo to illustrate how error can be promoted and preserved.

 

“Baptize” was left untranslated in order to conceal its actual meaning of “immersion” or “to fully submerge “.  This was done to obscure the word’s true meaning and, therefore, to promote the intentional baptism or christening error of sprinkling or pouring – an error which was and still is practiced by the Roman church and some of her daughters.  In other words, the word was left untranslated so that a pagan Roman ceremonial practice could continue to be practiced.

 

Unfortunately, like so many other clear words of Scripture, Christians are lead astray by their leaders.  Thus, despite the unambiguous meaning of “baptize” as being “to fully immerse”, many Christian organizations continue to practice the incorrect custom of sprinkling or pouring.

In other words, “baptize” is a word left untranslated to purposely conceal a known error in order to allow that error to be practiced and perpetuated. So long as people were ignorant of what the word literally meant an incorrect method of baptizing could continue.

 

The word antichrist was left untranslated for the same reason. Christian leaders, particularly leaders beginning around the 4th century, did not want the actual meaning of the word to be understood.  Their intent was to allow the continued promotion of error just as it with the word baptize.

 

As with most lies and propaganda, if you promote the lie long enough it will eventually be accepted as truth. Politicians and others who lust for worldly gain depend upon this simple principle. They know that if a lie is told long enough, strongly enough, and circulated widely enough, that it will eventually be accepted as the de facto truth even though there may not be a shred of truth within it. We are swimming in a world infested with all manner of lies that are generally accepted as truth.  Nowhere is that more true than within Christianity.

​Christianity as it has existed since the 4th century, and to a lesser extent counterfeit Messianism, are largely built upon just such lies – lies and false teachings that have been told for so long, so strongly, and so widely that people accept them as truth without caring to verify their authenticity. If someone comes along with the actual truth, that person is judged to be spreading lies since in the mind of the majority the lie has become the truth and the truth has become the lie.

Since Christianity has promoted error for approximately 1700 years, most people assume contemporary Christian doctrines to be accurately portraying what the Bible teaches without ever verifying.  People assume it to be correct and, therefore, place their eternal destiny in the hands of those who teach doctrines that they do not even bother to scrutinize.  The term “foolish” does not even begin to describe the hazardous error of such misplaced trust.

 

Baptize comes from the Hebrew word “mikvah” and definitely means to fully submerge in water, but since the incorrect method of sprinkling and pouring has been done for many centuries few people even care what “baptize” actually means. They have grown to accept the lie as truth just as they have with countless other errors of Christianity.

 

Likewise with antichrist. Its commonly accepted meaning has been promoted for so long that people accept it as truth.

 

Antichrist: Uncovering its true definition

 

Antichrist is actually a combination of 2 Greek words, anti and christos.  The literal meaning(s) of antichrist is:

 

• adversary of Christ
• usurper of Christ
• instead of Christ
• opposite to Christ (or in opposition to Messiah)
• in place of Christ

 

The translations of “instead of” Christ and “in place of” Christ were underlined to emphasize how they are equivalent to the following terms which are, therefore, also legitimate meanings of anti and christos (antichrist):

 

• bogus Christ
• fake Christ
• imitation Christ
• substitute Christ
• phony Christ
• counterfeit Christ

 

Undoubtedly, contemporary Christian and counterfeit Messianic leaders will legitimately claim that they do explain the meaning of the term antichrist.  They will state that everything I just defined as being the meaning of antichrist is what they, also, explain.  However, here is the problem:

​Though they may properly explain the meaning of the term, they then smother that meaning underneath their incorrectly taught fulfillment of the antichrist scenario.  They focus upon the popular understanding, which is that antichrist refers to some evil and powerful personality who will arise on the world stage.  They do this despite the lack of evidence in the New Testament wherever antichrist is discussed which, as we have seen, only occurs in four verses within the first and second epistles of John.  Such a focus by Christian and counterfeit Messianic leaders suppresses and effectively negates the more logical understanding which is easily grasped by the simple meaning of the term.

Therefore, such leaders perform a “bait and switch” or “slight of hand” deceptive form of teaching as they focus their audience away from the more legitimate and simple meaning of antichrist.

 

Often, the term antichrist is capitalized as “Antichrist”.  The capitalization is completely unfounded, biased, and so pervasive that even spell-checkers in software continually attempts to "correct" the spelling if it is not capitalized.  The capitalization is done in order to push a person’s opinion along the path of believing what contemporary Christianity wishes for you to accept.

 

Antichrist: actively present for 2000 years

 

It is useful at this time to note a couple of verses from earlier in John’s epistle.

 

1 John 2:18-19 (NKJV)

18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

 

Traditional Christianity and counterfeit Messianism seem to have somehow erased these verses from the pages of the New Testament.  Why do Traditional Christian leaders focus almost exclusively on the concept of some future individual they label as “antichrist” when these verses make it abundantly clear that the “antichrist” was present even during the time John penned his epistle?  In fact, it clearly states that many antichrists were present!  How could John have been any clearer?

 

The Source New Testament, which is an excellent new translation, supports the almost certain fact that the “antichrist” is not a single individual, thus providing more evidence which proves that the exaggerated sensationalized myth prevalent among many Christian groups is false. The following is taken from a translator’s note within the 1 John section of that publication, page 479.

 

“Antichrists. (Anti-anointing’s.)  Not an individual!

There is much speculation among some Christian groups as to who the “Antichrist” will be in the end times. However, the Antichrist as an actual sole person is just a myth – the term is not mentioned at all in Revelation, and in fact is mentioned only in this letter and in 2 John (just once). John uses the term in the plural – he says that anyone who denies that Jesus is the Anointed One is an antichrist (anti-anointing) and says that many antichrists (anti-anointings) have come into the world. At no point does John refer to an “Antichrist” (Anti-anointing) as an individual. There appears to be some confusion among many contemporary Christians who appear to have confused the “Beast” of Revelation with the term “Antichrist”. Again, the term “Antichrist” is never used to refer to an individual, and the term appears only here and in 2 John and does not appear in Revelation.”

 

The replacement of the term “Christ” with “anointing” is accurate; however, in order to reduce confusion I will continue to use the term “christ” within this discussion.

 

Antichrist: phony, bogus, counterfeit Christ

​It is important to grasp the meaning of the word translators conveniently chose to not translate from the original Greek.  The term “antichrist”, as proven above, literally means “adversary of” the Messiah, “in place of” the Messiah, “instead of” the Messiah, or “usurper of” the Messiah.  It can also mean a “replacement”, “phony”, “bogus”, or “counterfeit” Messiah.

John made it perfectly clear that many antichrists had gone out from them (early believers) teaching false doctrine regarding Messiah Yeshua.  These antichrists or usurpers of the true Messiah were promoting doctrines that presented a Christ that was in place of or instead of the true Messiah.  They were promoting a counterfeit Messiah. It is also quite likely that he was additionally referring to those who denied that Yeshua was Messiah, which would also fit the meaning of “usurper” or “adversary” of Messiah.

 

John refers to multiple antichrists; therefore, it is probable and feasible to assume that different types of antichrists are being referenced. Some antichrists may have rejected Yeshua as Messiah altogether, and others may have presented Messiah in a way that deviated from Truth.

Since the error of those who denied that Yeshua was Messiah requires no explanation, I will hereafter focus on the other, less obvious meaning that could apply to antichrist.

 

John was a Hebrew – a Jew of the first century.  It is, therefore, probable that the “us” John refers to in 1 John 2:19 were his Judaic brethren who followed Yeshua the Messiah as defined from their Hebraic context when he says,

 

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.“

 

Earlier in this discussion within the section "Second: false prophets appear and deceive many", I pointed out how as a result of being driven from the synagogues, banished from where they could have access to Torah scrolls, and severe persecution from Rome and fellow Jews who opposed "Yeshua Judaism", that growing yet fledgling faith system began to be dominated by leaders who were grossly unqualified and ignorant of Torah.  I stated:

 

"As a result, because the numbers of remaining Torah keeping followers of Yeshua would have grown increasingly bereft of Torah scholars capable of properly leading them, Torah ignorant men would have stepped in to fill the void.  Thus, the faith of and in Yeshua slowly began to be overtaken by Torah ignorant leaders whose world views and conceptual understandings of religion were largely based upon Roman empire paganism."

 

It is quite possible that such individuals were among those to whom John referred since they were:

 

• from us (They had participated in fellowship.)
• but ... not of us (They were not Torah knowledgeable Jews,)
• otherwise they would have continued with us (They would have remained loyal to the Torah faith and proper Torah based understanding of Messiah.)
• they went out (They abandoned the central Torah based faction and began to promote distorted and corrupt pagan Roman concepts.)
• thus it was proven none of them were of us (They were not loyal to the Torah faith and Torah truths regarding Messiah.  Their separation from "us" (John and the loyal followers of Yeshua) proved there were never ever actually among the true followers.)

 

The true Hebraic context of Messiah with which John and his brethren (the "us") were familiar had the following two central characteristics which I prove elsewhere on this web site:

 

1. Messiah was the “anointed one”, the “sent one”, the fully empowered human agent and future earthly King chosen by the Almighty Creator.  He was not “God in the flesh.”  I discuss the crucial issue of what it means to be the “agent” or “shaliach” of the Living God in a separate article and how this factors into proving Messiah is not God.  When one understands the Hebraic meaning of “shaliach” (shah LEE ock) all the mystery regarding Messiah’s relationship with God is removed and the simple truth is easily seen.  It is for this reason that you will likely never hear that issue discussed by your pastor.
2. He was indisputably and firmly PRO-Torah (pro-law).  The true Messiah was a devoted keeper and promoter of The Ineffable Eternal God’s eternal instructions.  Please read the article which asks the question “Does Traditional Christianity actually promote “Following” Christ?” for irrefutable proof of this fact.

​Therefore, any definition of Messiah (Christ) which possessed characteristics which contradicted those two primary attributes was “usurping” and “replacing” the true Messiah and was, therefore, a counterfeit or phony Christ.  It was (and still is), using the literal definition of the term, an “antichrist”!

The “spirit” of antichrist

 

Within the context of John’s discussion of the “spirit of antichrist” mentioned in 1 John 4:3 is the following verse:

 

1 John 4:6 (NKJV)

6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

 

Thus, due to its proximity to the statement mentioning antichirst which is just 3 verses earlier we can easily deduce using necessary inference that the “spirit of antichrist” in verse 3 is equated to a “spirit of error” in verse 6.  Clearly, the antichrist represents errors – false teachings – that were (and are) being spread.

​Point to remember: “spirit of antichrist” = “spirit of error” = false doctrine. The “antichrist” primarily represents of a set of false teachings.  Those who accept the doctrines promoted by the “spirit of error” are unintentional victims of the “spirit of antichrist.”

So, the “antichrist” was (and is) representative of a doctrine or set of doctrines that oppose the truth concerning Messiah (Christ).  This set of doctrines was already beginning to being spread in the latter part of the first century as false teachers betrayed the truth and went out promoting teachings that were (and are) in opposition to the true Messiah.

 

There is more than one antichrist

 

Now I will present yet another warning from John’s second epistle that supports this:

 

2 John 7 (NKJV)

7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess (acknowledge) Yeshua Messiah as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

 

Earlier we proved that the term “many” refers to a very large number of people.  Do not forget that during this study.

 

This is almost exactly the same warning John gave in 1 John 4:2,3.  Once again John is likely warning to beware of “many” people who will spread many various false teachings including – but not limited to – the teachings of some who did not accept that Messiah ben Yosef had come in the person of Yeshua.  He may also be warning us to beware of those who do not confess (better translated acknowledge) that Yeshua Messiah (Jesus christ) is a 100 percent pure flesh and blood human.  Basically, John was warning us to beware a flood of false teachers and teachings.

 

Note how John specially mentioned an antichrist; thus, clearly implying there is more than one.  Also, note that “many deceivers” had gone out and how that statement is within the same sentence in which he states that such is representative of “an antichrist”.

 

So we have “many” deceivers, yet one single “antichrist”.  How is this so?  It is so because “antichrist” does not represent an individual.  It represents a set of false teachings, and “many” people can each promote those “many” false teachings.  That is why “many” deceivers (multiple people) were promoting “an” antichrist (a single false doctrine relating to Christ).  Therefore, a single “antichrist” can be promoted by numerous people.  Likewise, numerous differing “antichrists” (different deceptions relating to Christ) can be promoted by different separate groups of people (different deceivers).

​Thus, it can be deduced  that: deceivers = antichrist promoters.  Obviously, “deceivers” practice “deception” which is a synonym (an equivalent term) for the word “error”.  The “spirit of error” indwells the “deceivers”, which are those who promote the antichrist deception.

As I point out in the other discussion which investigates if Christians are actually taught to “follow Messiah,” the Christ being promoted by Christianity is not a pro-Torah (pro-law) Messiah.  On the contrary, the Christ of Christianity is an anti-Torah Messiah – a replacement Christ that allegedly came (according to Christianity) to do away with the Torah.

​Christianity’s anti-Torah Christ and the pro-Torah Messiah John and his true brethren knew are the exact opposite of one another!  So the false Christ of Christianity is indeed “opposite to,” a “usurper of,” and “in place of” the true Messiah. It is, therefore, literally by definition, an “antichrist.”

Note the following from the earlier verses within Matthew’s gospel:

 

Matthew 24:10,11 (NET)

10 Then many will be led into sin, and they will betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will appear and deceive many, 12 and because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold.

 

As I discuss elsewhere on this site, the Greek term (anomia) rendered as “lawlessness” is a direct reference to Torah violation or contempt for Torah (an anti-Torah mindset). The false prophets of which Yeshua specifically warns us to beware are those who oppose Torah, yet opposition to Torah is the most fundamental of all Christian teachings. It is largely because of such an anti-Torah mindset that “many will be led into sin” since without Torah it is impossible to even know the definitions of sin.

 

Recall Messiah’s warning we read earlier from Matthew 24:4-5?  Allow me to refresh your memory with the corrected punctuation which we covered in previous parts of this study.

 

Matthew 24:4-5 (NET)

4 Yeshua answered them, “Watch out that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come in my name saying I am the Christ, and they will mislead many.”

​By rejecting Torah, Christianity has largely become a comfortable home within which sin can flourish, and it certainly does within many Christian groups. So just as Yeshua warns in verses 4 and 5 of chapter 24, most of the very people who rightly identify him as “Christ” are those to whom Messiah refers in verse 11 of that same chapter when he mentions “false prophets” who “appear and deceive many.”

Antichrist EXPOSED from hiding in plain sight!

 

I presented the two primary characteristics of the true Messiah earlier.  Here I will show a comparison of that true Messiah to the antichrist being promoted by traditional Christianity and counterfeit Messianic groups.

​THE TRUE MESSIAH YESHUA WHOM JOHN KNEW  versus THE MESSIAH PROMOTED BY CHRISTIANITY The Messiah of the New Testament whom John personally knew, had the following characteristics:1. He was the “anointed one” the “sent one” - the fully empowered human agent and future earthly King chosen by the Almighty Creator.  He was 100% human just as any other human except for his more exalted neshama (spirit or soul).  He was not “God in the flesh.”2. His teachings and faith practices were firmly PRO-Torah (strongly in favor of the Torah or Law).3. He was at that time “Messiah ben Yosef” and the “completed tzaddik”. In the future he will return as “Messiah ben David”. The Messiah (Christ) preached by Christianity and counterfeit Messianism, which does NOT properly represent the New Testament Messiah, has the following characteristics:1. He is "God in the flesh" - The Eternal Creator walking the earth as a man, who was killed and somehow resurrected by a separate part of himself to whom he also directed worship, devotion, and prayer before his death.2. He is anti-Torah (opposed to Torah), and though he perfectly obeyed and promoted Torah, nevertheless came to do away with it as being "nailed to the cross" (a grossly misinterpreted verse, by the way).  Counterfeit Messianism, however, does not teach that Messiah came to abolish the Torah, but they severely violate that Torah by promoting idolatrous worship of a "God in the flesh".3. His was then - during that period of time extending into the present - "Messiah ben David".  The concepts of "Messiah ben Yosef" and "completed tzaddik" are ignored or - as is most often the case - unknown by them.

Take a look at that comparison.  Notice how very different the Messiah John personally knew is from the one being promoted by Christianity and counterfeit Messianism.  Can there be any doubt of what is stated next?   No.  It is an obvious truth.

​I am fully persuaded that the anti-Torah “God in the flesh” Christ being promoted by Christianity and, to a lesser extent, the "God in the flesh" Messiah being promoted by counterfeit Messianism is precisely what a particularly deceptive and dangerous "spirit of antichrist" represents since it presents a completely different Christ “IN PLACE OF” the True Messiah.  The Christ promoted by Christianity is, indeed, THE most prevalent and spiritually damaging "antichrist"!

The traditional Christian lawless (anti-Torah) Christ is particularly horrific and antichrist.  The Christ of traditional Christianity and counterfeit Messianism is one that is a “USURPER OF” the true Hebraic Messiah.  Traditional Christianity and counterfeit Messianism define a pagan, Roman "God in the flesh" that is a “REPLACEMENT OF” and “ADVERSARY OF” the actual Hebraic Messiah.  Contemporary Christianity’s “Jesus Christ” is an incorrect representation of Yeshua the Messiah who is introduced in the pages of the New Testament.

​The “Jesus Christ” of contemporary Christianity is an imitation, a phony, a counterfeit messiah who differs in the two most fundamental ways from the true Messiah of the New Testament whom John and his fellow followers of Messiah knew in the first century.  Christianity even changed his name by renaming him Jesus “in place of” the true name Yeshua!

Of course, as I said, at least the replacement messiah of counterfeit Messianism does not advocate lawlessness (anti-Torah) as does the Traditional Christian version.

 

John states that those who follow this replacement messiah are of the spirit of antichrist and are following the “replacement of,” “usurper of” and “adversary of” Messiah.  Tragically, contemporary Christians, counterfeit Messianics, and those who often guide them ignore these warnings as well as the overwhelming weight of Scripture as they follow the “spirit of error” by bowing down to a man-God, anti-Torah messiah of purely pagan origins.

 

Further warnings from the apostle John

 

Before leaving this issue I’d like to point out more warnings from John’s epistles – warnings to which Christians and Messianics should give serious consideration.  From John’s first epistle we read:

 

1 John 2:22-26 (NKJV)

22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Yeshua is the Christ (Messiah)? He is antichrist (usurper of Messiah) who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. 24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that He has promised us – eternal life. 26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive (Greek: seduce or cause to go astray) you.

 

Note how John equates “liars” with those who deny that Yeshua is Messiah.  He further equates this denial of the true Messiah with the teachings of antichrist – or antimessiah.

 

Since John was a Jew – a Hebrew who thought and wrote entirely within His Hebraic world view – the true Messiah that he states the antichrists deny would be the human, Torah embracing Messiah defined by John’s Hebraic understanding.  In other words, those who follow the antichrist (replacement messiah, anti-messiah) deny and oppose the true Hebraic Messiah.

​John stated that those who deny the legitimate Messiah – or who promote and follow a counterfeit messiah – actually deny the Father and the Son, since denial of the authentic Messiah and the One and Only True God by promoting a false concept of each is the same as openly denying them!

John further warns in verse 24 that the same Hebraic Messiah that had been taught from the beginning of the first century Messianic faith movement must “abide” in those claiming to follow that Messiah.  If that Messiah abides in us we can be promised of a sure hope for eternal life.

 

Note how eternal life was defined by Yeshua. Also note the clear distinction shown between “the only true God” whom Yeshua worshiped and Yeshua which is indicated by the use of the conjunction “and”:

 

John 17:3 (NKJV)

3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Yeshua Messiah whom You have sent.

 

Finally, in verse 26 of 1 John chapter 2 John states that he wrote to the recipients of his epistle for the purpose of directly warning them of this “spirit of error” replacement messiah so that they would not be deceived.  As shown in the verses from chapter 2 of 1 John quoted above, the term “deceive” means “to seduce” or “cause to go astray.”

 

So, John was writing so that we would not be seduced or caused to go astray by those promoting the replacement messiah – antichrist.  Sadly, all but a few have ignored John’s warning.  Most Christians and, to a lesser extent counterfeit Messianics, are squarely and probably permanently deceived by the very antichrist spirit of error that John so passionately pleaded for us to resist.

 

John warned us the false teachings were present and would continue.  Furthermore, he warned us those teaching these false doctrines would claim to be our brethren.

 

Antichrist is here, has been for centuries, and is easily located

​Yes indeed, ever since the early centuries the spirit of antichrist has been in the world.  It is now in virtually every Christian church, taught by virtually every Christian leader, and followed by almost every Christian.  The same applies to counterfeit Messianics who embrace the Roman great harlot’s idolatrous “God in the flesh” teaching.

I would not be surprised if, in order to solidify the deception Christianity wishes to promote, that there may actually arise an individual in the last days whom Christianity will label as “the antichrist”, and such an individual may truly be an antichrist.  However, that in no way diminishes the fact that “antichrist” actually represents rejection of Yeshua as Messiah, false doctrines which misrepresent him, or definitions of Messiah which define a counterfeit messiah.  Unfortunately, all of those are present today, most notably in contemporary Christianity.

 

It is a tragic fact that the anti-Torah "God in the flesh" Jesus Christ” which Christianity accepts and promotes is a counterfeit, replacement messiah who differs immensely from the true Messiah as he is actually represented in the New Testament writings.  Therefore, by accepting and promoting a counterfeit, both Christianity and counterfeit Messianism are effectively rejecting the true Messiah and instead embracing an antichrist.

 

Conclusion:

 

Ample evidence has been presented which proves wrong the fanciful concept that the antichrist is an evil and powerful political or military leader.  Such characters are referenced separately in Scripture.  They have and will appear on the world stage, but they are not the antichrist.

 

Every time throughout history that such a leader has arisen many people label him as antichrist.  Time passes on and their label is proven incorrect, but then they simply latch onto the next evil leader and label him antichrist.  That label is again proven wrong, but they continue to repeat the same error over and over.

 

At times it seems to become some sort of silly “Name the Antichrist!” game where people compete with regard to who can identify antichrist.  There are now new antichrist personalities that are being allegedly identified.

 

All this does is confuse, misdirect, and falsely present the true meaning of the term antichrist.  It also empowers the “spirit of antichrist” by helping to conceal the correct definition of antichrist, thus making it more likely that people will unknowingly embrace an antichrist.

 

Properly defined, antichrist is a component of the “spirit of error” or “spirit of antichrist”. That error is represented by doctrines which promote a counterfeit messiah, and the two most profoundly incorrect of those doctrines are the idolatrous teaching that Messiah is “God in the flesh” and that he came to abolish Torah.

​The correct understanding of antichrist is easy to grasp.  All a person needs to do is look at the literal translation of the Greek word, antichristos, as we did within this discussion. Just look at the actual translated meaning of the word!  That is all that is required. Then simply match what you observe within various teachings to the legitimate truths regarding the fully human, pro-Torah Messiah Yeshua as he is actually presented in the New Testament.  If what you observe differs with the Messiah as he is truly presented, then you have just identified an antichrist teaching.  All that is required is knowledge of the literal definition of antichrist.  Simple!

Tragically, the spirit of error (spirit of antichrist) is so strong, it is probable that many Christians may actually reject and actively oppose the Messiah when he returns to establish his earthly Kingdom. This is due to the popular false teachings within Christianity regarding antichrist which suggest that much of what Yeshua the Messiah will accomplish when he returns will define him as antichrist to them. This is particularly true when the fact that he will return as a very strong pro-Torah personality.

 

Since Christianity opposes Torah or in some cases outright condemns it, the strongly pro-Torah returning Messiah will be “evil” to them since he will teach the polar opposite or what Chrsitianity teaches with respect to Torah.  In addition, the fact that he will likely be popular among Jews (whom most Christians condemn to “hell”) and possibly conduct military conquests or defense of Israel are considered, the “powerful political and military leader” definition often applied to antichrist by Christianity will be applied to him.  Since some Christians also think antichrist will be Jewish, the situation will be even more likely to cause Messiah to be labeled antichrist.

 

It is also due to the separate yet also antichrist relevant false teachings among many contemporary Christian groups who either believe in the ridiculous “rapture” lie, are amillennialist (those who reject that there will be an earthly reign of Messiah), or both.  Since foolish “rapture” believers think they will be “raptured away” or “taken” and, thus, not be here when Messiah is fighting his battles, and amillennialists do not think any of the actions that will usher in the Messianic era will literally occur, they will both likely reject Yeshua when he returns to establish the Kingdom of God on earth in which he will be the anointed as the chosen King of all the world.

​In multiple ways Christians are being setup to reject Messiah when he returns, and a primary way that is being accomplished is with the dreadfully false, absurd, unscriptural, various antichrist scenarios promoted by Christianity. Christians are oblivious to the fact that by accepting the “God in the flesh”, Torah abolishing, falsely named “Jesus Christ” promoted by Christianity, they are already embracing the antichrist!  Indeed, by embracing the false messiah of traditional Christianity, Christians are being lead squarely into the stronghold of the spirit of error – the spirit of antichrist.

If you still are not convinced this is a legitimate understanding of “antichrist,” consider the following quote which supports a primary component of my hypothesis.  It is taken from the explanatory notes found in the back of The Scriptures, a translation of the Bible published by The Institute for Scripture Research, LTD.

 

I differ to some extent with the quote.  Nevertheless, to be fair I will quote their discussion of antichrist, which they translate as “anti-Messiah”, in its entirety with emphasis on the statements that pertain to this article.  I do not necessarily completely agree with their opinion; however, they do at least recognize that if antichrist had been translated instead of purposely left untranslated by Christian scholars, then it would probably have been translated as “in place of” or “instead of”, which is the same thing as a replacement or counterfeit Messiah.

 

“Anti-Messiah: There are many Anti-Messiahs (1 Yn [John] 2:18), yet there is an important one, and many theories have been presented throughout the centuries. Most of them identify this Anti-Messiah with the one(s) we read about in Yesh. [Isaiah] 14:12-14, Daniel 7, Daniel 8, Daniel 9, Daniel 11, Matthew 24:15, 2 Thess. 2:1-12, Rev. 13.  In Rev. 13 we read of two beasts, the one seemingly a political power, and the other a religious one.  This latter seems to be more closely linked to the one we read of in 2 Thess. 2, and also the “Abomination that lays waste,” of which we read in Daniel in three places, and which Yeshua quotes in Matthew 24:15.  If we study the Greek word "anti" we discover that it more frequently means “in place of” or “instead of” in the Messianic Scriptures [New Testament] than its other meaning of “against.”  Is this then not what the Messiah prophesied about when He spoke of “another” one, in Yn. [John] 5:43?  Further, is it not the same “another” one Sha’ul [Paul] spoke about in 2 Cor. 11:4?  Whoever or whatever the anti-Messiahs are, they are all used by Satan, for he is behind them all.  He even masquerades as a messenger of light! (2 Cor. 11:14).”

 

I agree that one of the potential “anti-Messiahs” is a fictitious religious beast of sorts, and I believe it to be the man-God, anti-Torah “Jesus Christ” counterfeit Messiah that is promoted by the Holy Roman empire beast system – Christianity.

 

I also feel it is quite possible that the current primary “Beast” system is Islam, which replaced Christianity in terms of dominance and influence in the region of the Holy Land, centuries ago.  Of course it is that Holy Land region of the world (Israel and the surrounding nations) that prophecy focuses upon.

 

There is a long standing Hebraic interpretation which teaches that the “feet of iron and clay” on the giant statue that was interpreted by Daniel in chapter two of the prophetic book of Daniel represents Islam (clay) and Christianity (iron).   Therefore, it is quite possible that sort of a dual “beast” system is to be considered.  This is particularly true when one considers that each part of that giant image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream represents a Kingdom that will rise and fall; therefore, the “feet of iron an clay” actually represents a single Kingdom – the only one not yet destroyed – which combines both of the two largest world religious systems (iron: Christianity, and clay: Islam).  And, of course, that “feet of iron and clay” Kingdom is the very last that will exists, which will be destroyed utterly by Messiah when he arrives to institute the Messianic era.  But that’s another topic for a different study.

 

The “Christ” of the Holy Roman empire is put “in place of” the true Messiah by Christian leaders who have followed the spirit of delusion – the spirit of antichrist – since the fourth century CE.  It is an idol fashioned together from pagan Roman religions and, thus, a nonexistent manifestation in the imagination of many mislead Christians and, to a lesser extent, also counterfeit Messianics.  That religious beast results from the various antichrist false teachings promoted by those two religious groups.

​Yes, the false replacement messiah being promoted by traditional Christianity IS a counterfeit messiah – he IS an antichrist!  In fact, if there is one single characterization that could be called THE antichrist, it is contemporary Christianity’s Torah abolishing, "God in the flesh", phony messiah.

May The Eternal One (Blessed be He) open hearts and minds to the true Messiah.  May Messiah Yeshua, as he is actually represented in the New Testament, be embraced by all and return soon.  May it be so.