Hitler was an evil man. A very, very evil man. He was not a garden variety of evil. He was thoroughly possessed by Satan. His spiritual mainstay was Theosophy – an esoteric, racist, highfalutin rendition of occultism. The beliefs of Theosophy are predominantly based on the writings of Helena Blavatsky. Wikipedia describes her as an occultist. She was one of two cofounders of Theosophy. (The other was Henry Olcott). She was so racist she described some people as “semi-animal creatures,” said some people emerged from crossings with “semi-human stocks.” She’s the godmother of the New Age movement. Her Theosophical ideas contributed significantly to Nazi ideology.
The roots of Theosophy can be traced back to ancient Gnosticism. Gnosticism was the main challenge to Christianity in the very first century; it remains the main challenge till date having been incorporated into prominent religions. A branch of Gnosticism called Docetism denies Jesus manifested bodily. The strange doctrine says he “SEEMED” to have a body. Docetism comes from the Greek word, “Dokeo” meaning “to seem.” The other branch contends that the “Christ” descended on the man Jesus at baptism but left him at crucifixion. This is called Cerinthianism. It’s named after it’s prominent spokesman, Cerinthius. It was Gnosticism John was addressing when he wrote, “By this you know and recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges and confesses the fact that Jesus Christ has actually come in the flesh as a man is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus, acknowledging that He has come in the flesh, but would deny any of the Son’s true nature is not of God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and is now already in the world.” 1 John 4:2-3 AMP. It was indeed Apostle John who came up with the name, Antichrist. John says the spirit of the Antichrist entered the world as far back as 1st century AD. 1 John 4:2-3. Please note there’s a difference between the personage of the Antichrist and the spirit of the Antichrist. The Antichrist will eventually emerge but his franchise is already in the world. The Hitlers of this world are franchisees of the spirit of the Antichrist. That man erected factories of death for the extermination of a race. He killed 6million Jews. By some account Hitler coveted to be the Antichrist.
The Antichrist is the fourth man mentioned in scriptures. The Bible calls him “Man of Sin.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3. The other men are Adam, Jesus the Christ and the New Man. Adam is the prototype for humanity in general. The Man Christ Jesus is the middleman and honest broker of reconciliation between the human race and God. 1 Timothy 2:5. To feel our pain, understand exactly what we’re going through he came as a man – “We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin.” Hebrews 4:14-16 MSG. The New Man is the man recreated in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:10. He’s the upgrade Jesus ordered when Adam messed up in the Garden. The difference between Adam, the New Man and the Man of Sin however is that the Man of Sin changed paternity. He became a child of the Devil. He will continue the ambitious pursuit of his father to colonise Earth. He will be the personification of opposition to the sovereignty of Jesus. The force will be with him. That brazen opposition will lead to what the Bible calls “abomination of desolation.” Mathew 24:15. It was Daniel who actually came up with that term. Daniel 12:11. Daniel stated in his prophecy the Antichrist will enter the Temple in Jerusalem and desecrate the altar. There was a practice run earlier in history.
The name Antiochus Epiphany might not mean much to you but he’s notable in spiritual chronicles. He was a Greco-Syrian king of the Seleucid Empire. He reigned 175 to 164 BC. The name is actually quite an irony considering what he stood for. His name means “God Manifest.” He was anything but. More like “Satan Manifest.” His real name was Mithradates. He assumed “Epiphanes” after he ascended the throne. Behind his back people called him “Epimanes” – the “mad one.” He believed he was a manifestation of the Greek god, Zeus. His brutal persecution of Jews precipitated the Maccabean revolt. That was the period between the Old and New Testaments. When Daniel wrote about the Antichrist some actually believed he was talking about Antiochus.
Antiochus pursued a cultural policy of Hellenization. That means he wanted all things to turn Greek. Some Jews bought into his vision and that created two factions within Judaism – the Hellenists, who accepted pagan practices, and the Traditionalists who remained faithful to the old ways under Mosaic Law. Antiochus sought to destroy the later. He made a decree outlawing Jewish rites and worship. Jews were to worship Zeus rather than Yahweh. He raided the Temple, seized the treasures and set up an altar to Zeus. He sacrificed swine on the altar. When the Jews protested he slaughtered them in great number. And then he banned circumcision, made it punishable by death. He ordered Jews everywhere to sacrifice to pagan gods and eat pig. This led to the Maccabean uprising. According to Daniel’s prophecy the whole thing was a practice run by Satan. This is what he wrote about the Antichrist: “Then for one seven, he will forge many and strong alliances, but halfway through the seven he will banish worship and prayers. At the place of worship, a desecrating obscenity will be set up and remain until finally the desecrator himself is decisively destroyed.” Daniel 9:27 MSG. “His forces will rise up and profane the fortified sanctuary, stopping the daily sacrifice. In its place they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.” Daniel 11:31 NET. “From the time that the daily sacrifice is removed and the abomination that causes desolation is set in place, there are 1,290 days.” Daniel 12:11 NET. Before the emergence of the Antichrist however Christians would have been raptured. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.
Concerning this period Jesus warned: “The day is coming when you will see the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing where he should not be… Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. A person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return even to get a coat. How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. And pray that your flight will not be in winter. For there will be greater anguish in those days than at any time since God created the world. And it will never be so great again. In fact, unless the Lord shortens that time of calamity, not a single person will survive. But for the sake of his chosen ones he has shortened those days.” Mark 13:14-20 NLT. The unimaginable bestiality of the Antichrist will be revealed. There’s a reason he’s called the Beast. It’s going to be a terrible time for Jews.
John wrote, “The Beast had a loud mouth, boastful and blasphemous. It could do anything it wanted for forty-two months. It yelled blasphemies against God, blasphemed his Name, blasphemed his Church, especially those already dwelling with God in Heaven. It was permitted to make war on God’s holy people and conquer them. It held absolute sway over all tribes and peoples, tongues and races. Everyone on earth whose name was not written from the world’s foundation in the slaughtered Lamb’s Book of Life will worship the Beast.” Revelation 13:5-8 MSG. The Antichrist will be unbelievably audacious: “He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4 NLT. He is the “the man of lawlessness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8. A great rebellion against God will presage his appearance.
But perhaps what has intrigued the world the most about the Beast is the number of the Beast – “666”. According to the Bible there will be a mini beast. He’s the priest of the cult of the Beast. He’s generally known as the False Prophet. John described him as having “two horns like a lamb but sounded like a dragon when it spoke.” It is a puppet of the Beast. He “made earth and everyone in it worship the first Beast. This second Beast worked magical signs, dazzling people by making fire come down from Heaven. It used the magic it got from the Beast to dupe earth dwellers, getting them to make an image of the Beast that received the deathblow and lived. It was able to animate the image of the Beast so that it talked, and then arrange that anyone not worshiping the Beast would be killed.” Revelation 13:13-15. It is this false prophet that “forced all people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to have a mark on the right hand or forehead. Without the mark of the name of the Beast or the number of its name, it was impossible to buy or sell anything.” Revelation 13:16-17 MSG .
As if all those are not intriguing enough the Bible leaves us with a riddle – a real crossword puzzle: “Solve a riddle: Put your heads together and figure out the meaning of the number of the Beast. It’s a human number: 666.” Revelation 13:18 MSG.
Can you crack the 666 code?
If you’ll like to receive Jesus into your life please pray this prayer: “Father I acknowledge that I am a sinner, that Jesus died for me, that you raised him from the dead. Father please forgive me. I accept Jesus today as my Lord and my Saviour. Amen.”
Theology Trivia: Who is the man of sin? What makes him different from Adam and the new man?
The e-version of my new book, The Genesis Project is now available for purchase and download at www.genesisprojectonline.com.
© Leke Alder | talk2me@lekealder.com.
There’s a difference between the personage of the Antichrist and the spirit of the Antichrist. The Antichrist will eventually emerge but his franchise is already in the world. Click To Tweet