Where is Antichrist? Part I

By Terry James

The most frequently asked question at prophecy conferences and in Bible prophecy classes–at least in my experience—is: “Is America in Bible prophecy?” The second most asked is: “Do you think the Antichrist is alive on earth today?”

These questions are for the most part posed by people in the audiences or classes in general. However, more and more frequently I find these questions being asked by journalists, both print and broadcast. It is interesting to me that I rarely hear a skeptical or scoffing tone in the voices of the media representatives who interview me. There seems a sense, even among secular journalists, that perhaps there’s something to this Bible prophecy stuff after all.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not sensing a sudden turning to God, or to His Word. However, there is a halting uncertainty there. Like, “Well, maybe I had better be just a bit more serious about the subject, since there is such angst over these strange economic conditions.”

Economic Conditions

There is a sense that strange, unexplainable things are happening, and even secular newshounds seem to viscerally understand that Bible prophecy has something to do with the increasingly troubling issues and events of our time. U.S. leaders (I use that term loosely) have seemingly thrown caution to the wind. It’s like, as I heard one Bible prophecy broadcaster say the other day: "those who are supposed to be trying to fix the melting financial structure of America have placed the whole shebang on 17 black, and have given the roulette wheel a hope-filled turn." Actually, it is more like they have written trillions in IOUs and put them on 17 black, and have given the wheel a turn.

If the little ball ends up on any number other than 17 black, what then? That is the crux of the crucial nature of this insanity surrounding the American economy as the end of the age approaches. Craziness rules - like when the Federal Reserve reached in its right pocket and transferred more than a trillion dollar IOU to its left pocket to keep the American financial system afloat.

"Just last Wednesday the Fed said it would flood the teetering financial system with an additional $1.2 trillion. The money will be used, the Fed said, to buy government bonds and mortgage-related securities in hopes of lowering the borrowing costs for home mortgages and other types of loans, thereby stimulating economic activity. In other words, the central bank will print more money to pay for the purchases. What the Fed does not explain publicly is how those kinds of infusions of money out of thin air, with nothing to back it, reduce the purchasing power and assets of all Americans by devaluing the dollar. The $1.2 trillion is in addition to hundreds of billions already added to the system since the beginning of the year and dwarfs even the biggest government bailouts to date…” (“Fed's secrecy policy 3 years old,” WorldNetDaily MoneyNetDaily, March 22, 2009).

Keep in mind that the Federal Reserve is a non-government agency. Congress designated this monetary governing body to control the nation's money supply. The Fed’s actions directly impact the value of the dollar. This body, manned by the non-elected financial elite, holds sway over every investment held by Americans.

Actions like those taken by the Federal Reserve in the case of creating out of nothingness the trillion plus dollars, then putting that massive IOU into the system with a blind faith that that unbacked infusion will beat the odds of failure, will, if nothing else is done, put not only America’s economy, but the economies of the nation-states of the world into the final stages of collapse.

The following excerpt tells of just how surreptitious are the actions against the taxpayers and their offspring, who are expected to shoulder the burden of funding the globalist elite’s grandiose plans to build their new world order.

“WASHINGTON – As America's economy continues in freefall, tomorrow marks an auspicious three-year anniversary – the day the Federal Reserve announced, with little fanfare, its decision to stop reporting to the public the M3 money supply, the broadest measure of three standards of measurement…Since 2006, Americans have seen their investments plummet in value and witnessed the shrinking buying power of their earnings. Why did the Fed make that decision three years ago? What was its rationale? The justification for the secrecy by the organization that prints money was cost. By not producing those numbers for the public, the Fed would save about $1.5 million annually…” (ibid.).

The Craziness Proliferates!

It should be astonishing to think that the media, so obsessed with nefarious financial dealings by civilian monetary elite–e.g., the AIG executive bonuses, would let civilians with the power of the Fed go without being punished for perpetrating such surreptitiousness on American taxpayers. There seems to be, however, not the slightest notice.

The $1.5 million savings by the Fed in not reporting to the public the M3 money supply amounted to 0.00000699 percent of its annual net income of last year. This savings was highlighted as sufficient reason to keep vital information from the public. Just to point out the deceptive nature of this piddling savings being reported in order to justify keeping taxpayers in the dark, remember that the same media went all out in diverting the public's attention from the enormous bailouts by focusing on – by contrast to the prodigious bailout dollar amount — the infinitesimal bonuses paid to AIG executives. Remember, too, that the bonuses were given to the AIG executives through contractually mandated arrangements.

The sleight of hand by the Fed in transferring the massive IOU from one pocket to the other to keep the country’s economic ship afloat was done under the knowing eyes of the Obama Administration and Congress. An uninformed American public was, and is for the most part, kept in ignorance by news media not fully disclosing the scope of the thievery of the economic well-being of this and future generations.

What About Antichrist?

This essay’s title is “Where Is Antichrist?” So, where, if anywhere in this present hour, is this future evil Bible character in all of the foregoing? Can he be on the scene today?

Jesus forewarned that false christs will come on the scene in the latter times. The definition of antichrist is most often given as the one who will present himself in place of (imitate) Jesus Christ, and will at the same time oppose Jesus Christ. The “beast” is prophesied to be the world’s worst tyrant of human history. The prophet Daniel was given the following about this person who is called “son of perdition,” “man of sin,” and many other names.

“And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand “ (Dan. 8:24-25).

We will examine in next week’s Nearing Midnight commentary this man who is of legendary proportions, yet who transcends by far any legend. He is not an imaginary monster such as Dracula in the Stoker novel, or Darth Vader as in Spielberg’s fictional wars among the stars. Antichrist is a real monster, and a most treacherous one, because he will through supernatural deceit appear as a geopolitical and socioeconomic savior of mankind. Be sure, the beast of Revelation 13 is about to step into the spotlight of history’s final act.

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