Is the Antichrist Saddam Hussein?

The end times Antichrist, "who is he?" is a question that rings through out the religious communities of today. There are all kind of Bible prophecy end times theories being taught concerning the personality, actions, and identity of this Antichrist. We have heard it proclaimed from the pulpit and in Christian books that the Antichrist was Hitler, Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, Moammar Kadhafi, and the list goes on and on. Of course, these have all proven to be wrong.

Now it has been taught that Saddam Hussein is the Antichrist. AP Photo Will this madness never end? Is it finally time for us to go back and find out what the Bible prophecy teaches? The answer is so simple and so easy, but because of our religious training, it is oh so hard to accept.

The word 'Antichrist' is only used four times in the scriptures, all by the apostle John. Surprisingly, the word 'Antichrist' never appears in the book of Revelation. What do we find to be John's description? Let us consider these verses.

"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. 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" (1 John 2:18, 19).

So what do we know from this passage?

1. John's first century readers knew this Antichrist was coming.

2. It was the "last hour" at the time John was writing in the first century. The question is "the last hour of what?" Obviously, it was not the last hour of physical earth for it has continued nearly 2000 years beyond John's statement.

3. This movement was already present when John was writing and was made up of "many antichrists". John uses their presence as proof that it was then already the last hour.

4. These "antichrists" were former church members who had left the faith. John's Antichrist was of Christian origin. It was not a single individual.

"Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son" (1 John 2:22).

1. John was obviously not pleased by these people.

2. They were denying that Jesus was the Christ.

"and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world" (1 John 4:3).

1. The root of the problem is now seen to be the denial "that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh."

2. This false teaching was already present at the time of John's writing in the first century.

"For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist" (2 John 1:7).

1. These people were former church members who had gone out into the world.

2. The root of the problem is again seen concerning "Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh."

So what do we know from John concerning 'antichrist?' This 'last hour' movement was a first century group of former members of the church who had forsaken the faith, teaching that Jesus Christ had not come in the flesh. John used this to prove that they were living in the 'last days.'

A popular false teaching of that time was that 'all flesh was evil.' Some believed strongly in the divinity of Christ (that Jesus was the Son of God) but because of their erroneous belief that all flesh was evil, these men wrongly concluded that the divine Christ could not have put on this supposed evil flesh. However, both the divinity and the humanity of Christ are crucial to the Christian faith.

The first century problem was vastly different from our 21st century problem. The first century people had trouble accepting the 'humanity' of Christ while 21st century people have trouble accepting the 'divinity' of Christ. Both the 'divinity' of Jesus (being the son of God) and the 'humanity' (being in the flesh) are crucial to the Christian faith. Today, most people accept the historical fleshly Jesus but many have trouble accepting that he was the Son of God.

One can see from these verses that these people were not persecutors, as is now commonly taught, but that they were false teachers. There is no statement or even a hint that they ever persecuted anyone. Oh how our theories have grown since the first century. This problem has been aggravated by the improper grouping of 'antichrist' with 'the man of sin' and the 'beast' of Revelation. These are three different entities and should not be confused.

The teaching of 'antichrists' is not teaching about 21st century events or personalities, such as the late Saddam Hussein, but rather it is teaching about first century end times events that were occurring as John was writing. To tear these verses out of their first century historical settings and to attempt to apply them to current day events, of which they were never intended, does great disservice to the passages and causes improper conclusions. The first century Christians stood in the face of much persecution and apostasy. May we be willing to uphold God's teachings as found in his Word, the Bible. The Christian books on this site stress the basic, plain teachings of the Bible.

Gene Fadeley

The Antichrist and end times of Bible prophecy are easy to understand!

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