“Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.” 1 John 2:18
Apostle John is introducing us to the antichrist, someone who will come to deceive many, who will be complete opposite to Jesus Christ and who will be a man of lawlessness. It is interesting that John was letting us know that “many antichrists have come”, so as soon as Jesus was taken to heaven, many antichrists emerged. It is not a new phenomenon and it is someone who could have come at any time, not necessarily at the time we think he will come. Many people in Christianity are waiting for the antichrist and he will be a sign before the second coming of Jesus Christ. Or rather the “reveal” of the antichrist will be a sign. What does that tells us? That this is not necessarily someone completely new but perhaps someone that was, had a huge impact on the world, left a legacy and we are just “revealing” the truth about this.
When thinking about that person, we have to take into consideration the fact that this person will have to have a global influence and perhaps be as known as Jesus, and we all know that Jesus is the most known name in the world. He is known in every religion and even to people who don’t believe at all. So the antichrist will have to match that. Jesus’ fame did not grow overnight of course but it took around 2 thousand years. Similarly, this person’s fame and worldwide awareness could not be recognized straight away and to the extend Jesus is, however we know there is limited time in person’s life. Therefore this makes me to believe that the man of lawlessness is someone from the past and his “legacy” has grown over time to match Jesus’ fame. In Michael Hart’s book The 100 – A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History – Apostle Paul is ranked sixth just after Confucius, Buddha, Jesus, Isaac Newton, and Muhammad. Therefore Apostle Paul is ranked slightly lower than Jesus Christ himself. And that is why I asked myself those questions…
What if this man has already been and now his “legacy” is still being alive and deceiving many? What if the idea of the antichrist coming in the far future has been a deception and diversion from the truth that has been in front of our eyes all along? What if we are further in the timeline of the events before the second coming of Christ and many people in Christianity, just like Pharisees who were studying diligently scripture missed the signs of the Messiah and overlooked Jesus who was standing in front of their eyes, will miss those signs?
The man of lawlessness is before our eyes every time you open the Bible and on who’s teachings Christianity is based on – Apostle Paul, who considered himself above the law by rejecting the law of God and teaching others to do so.
Apostle John was trying to warn us in one of his messages:
“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” 1 John 4: 1-3
First of all, let’s have a look at the characteristics of the man of lawlessness and see if Paul fits the profile.
- The man of lawlessness is a blasphemous sinner who openly defies God’s law
- He will oppose and exalt himself above all gods and objects of worship
- He will take his seat in the temple of God and demand worship
- He will come offering false peace to the world
- He will unite all nations politically, economically, and religiously
- He will break his covenant with Israel
So let’s go through those characteristics one by one. I also wanted to point out on the meaning of some of the words because what I find is that people think that deception will come in an obvious way, offensive way, with fireworks as we’ve been conditioned to that through Hollywood. But this deception will come in a way no one will expect and as history likes to repeat itself, just like the Pharisees didn’t see Jesus coming, this will happen again.
- The man of lawlessness is a blasphemous sinner who openly defies God’s law
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2: 8-9
“Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law;” Romans 3:20
“But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” Romans 7: 6
“Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” Galatians 3:24
Paul was discouraging from the Law by highlighting law’s ineffectiveness to receive any righteousness. In his eyes following the law was pointless if you can’t even reach righteousness so he was highlighting that only faith can save you.
‘”We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.” Galatians 2: 15-16
Here I would like you to notice how Paul describes Gentiles, Jews are Jews but Gentiles are sinful Gentiles. It gives me a taste of his disgust towards Gentiles.
Was Paul a man of lawlessness, which is without the law – yes. Was Paul a blasphemous sinner who was openly defiling God’s law – yes because he was rejecting God’s law and teaching others to do so. In God’s eyes that is blasphemy. According to man’s eyes we see blasphemy as someone who destroys the Bible or spits on the cross, well Paul wasn’t openly negative like that but in a deceptive way taking everyone away from the law. But let’s not forget how Paul was killing early followers of Jesus so he murdered quite a lot of people thus he broke the law himself.
2. He will oppose and exalt himself above all gods and objects of worship
We know there is one God and so Paul was not including any other gods here. However, he did exalt himself:
“…you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.” Galatians 4: 14
“Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me.” 1 Corinthians 4: 15-16
Paul clearly was exalting himself, calling himself “as Jesus Christ” and also “father through the gospel”. And we know Jesus warned us to not call anyone Father as there is One Father in heaven. He was also urging people to imitate him, not Jesus Christ.
Paul was also trying to exalt himself by putting other disciples down:
“As for those who were held in high esteem – whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favouritism – they added nothing to my message.” Galatians 2: 6
I hope you can see how he is painting disciples down with words like “whatever they were makes no difference to me” and that “they added noting to MY message”. Wait a second, he was supposed to spread Jesus’ message, not his own message!
“…and when James, Peter, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.” Galatians 2: 9
Paul continues with the downgrade of the disciples who according to people but not according to him “seemed to be pillars”. It’s like he’s looking at them but can’t see why they have been chosen and not him. Why them, since they don’t have any education and he was so eloquent..
“Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed;” Galatians 2:11
“And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.” Galatians 2: 13
Paul is letting us know that all disciples and Jews were against Paul’s messages he was spreading. They ALL opposed him but he portrayed it as he was the only one who was right and all of them were hypocrites. He was the victim here. That is why Paul was more of an outsider and not preaching along with other disciples.
We see that John was pointing out to Paul all along, yet the church exalted Paul’s teachings over the teaching of Jesus and based the religion of Christianity on Paul:
“They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” 1 John 2: 19
Paul did not cooperate with other disciples. He opposed teachings of Jesus, he opposed teachings of Peter and James, he appointed himself as a teacher to the Gentiles and used their lack of knowledge to his advantage. He knew he wouldn’t be able to deceive Jews because they knew the Law and Torah, however Gentiles who had no clue about the Law and the scripture were an easy target:
“But be that as it may, I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you by cunning! Did I take advantage of you by any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus, and sent our brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not walk in the same spirit? Did we not walk in the same steps?” 2 Corinthians 12: 16-18
From the psychological point of view, our brain will not point out on anything that it hasn’t been thinking about, therefore if Paul is saying about “being crafty” and “taking advantage”, he is confirming that this crossed his mind and he is coming with a defense before any accusation could come his way. When it comes to liars, they usually come as very defensive by saying “I am not lying!”. When someone says this to you, you know they are lying…
“Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.” I john 2: 22
Paul did not deny Jesus Christ, however he opposed his teachings. He confirmed Jesus is the Son of God with his mouth but his actions didn’t match his words and he did not fully acknowledge Jesus’ teachings and therefore came up with his own gospel.
“For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.” Romans 2: 12-16
He clearly had an agenda of exalting himself and highlighting that it’s HIS gospel, HIS message and that no one added anything to HIS message. I really would like you to think and process that.
3. He will take his seat in the temple of God and demand worship
We know that the second temple of God was destroyed in 70 CE. When Jesus was on earth and even after leaving the earth, there were no physical churches. When Jesus said “on that rock I will build my “church”” – he didn’t mean in the way we understand it today. The Greek word translated as “church” in the Bible is “ekklesia” and refers to a gathering or assembly of people called out for a specific purpose, which is how Jesus would have used this concept. We can only assume he meant “church”, however he could have also meant synagogue, gathering assembly or temple. The word “church” came to existence in the 13th century and it comes from the Old English word “cirice”. When we look at the origin of the word “cirice” – it means pagan temple.
During his time, Paul established close to 20 churches or places of worship. He wrote letters to those churches educating them on his teachings and his gospel of grace.
“But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1: 11-12
“I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 12: 1
“I say again, let no one think me a fool. If otherwise, at least receive me as a fool, that I also may boast a little. What I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were, foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast.” 2 Corinthians 11: 16-18
Here Paul openly is telling us that he “does not speak according to the Lord” and that he” also may boast a little”. I hope you are seeing this and Paul was not hiding it at all but it was overlooked! People tend to believe titles, positions, institutions and will not believe their eyes just because Apostle Paul was accepted, his epistles chosen to the New Testament canon and on his teachings churches were established. No one will question that just because it’s in the Bible. But you have to treat it without your confirmation bias, without previous teachings but as a fresh, new book.
The boasting continues…
“Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.” 2 Corinthians 11: 22-23
Paul is clearly showing us that he is “more” than ministers of Christ. He labored more, he received more stripes, he was in prison more frequently, even in deaths…. pure narcissism!
“…you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.” Galatians 4: 14
Here Paul was demanding “blessing” as he compared himself to Christ Jesus, a clear sign of his internal reflection about himself and his narcissism.
“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10
Here we see how Paul was exalting himself, boasting and telling us how much torment he must have gone through and this is his the basis of the truth of his revelation. Because if he wasn’t lying he wouldn’t have been tormented, therefore because he was tormented he must be speaking the truth. These are just assumptions. Paul was having some demonic visitations and we are supposed to believe that Jesus came in the spirit and taught him the gospel. Even God warned us about this in the book of Deuteronomy:
“You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him” Deuteronomy 13: 3-4
“They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:10
God is testing people to see who will listen to His words and His Law or who will prefer to go an easy route and reject the Law. God will blind everyone who choses to reject the law to go the easy route of “grace” that Paul was preaching about.
4. He will come offering false peace to the world
This one is a little more tricky to prove, because technically Paul did not come to offer false peace to the world in the way we know it today, however through creation of the churches, in his eyes he was doing God’s service. Paul frequently offered “peace” in his letters to the churches, often using the phrase “grace and peace” as a standard greeting. His churches were supposed to be established on grace and peace. However he either deceived Gentiles knowingly or unknowingly by creating a separate religion, because this was not Jesus’ intention to do so. Jesus was a Jew who was teaching out of Torah and he came to Jews. He appointed his disciples to spread the light, but did not ask them to create a separate religion.
After the creation of Christianity we know what happened with the Roman empire taking over, creation of papacy, dark ages, protestant reformation and so on… The churches that Paul created were transformed into what we know call Roman Catholicism, therefore we can say Apostle Paul is the creator of Catholicism. The word “catholic” comes from the Greek word kata holos, which means “pertaining to the entirety”. It can also be used to describe attitudes that are inclusive and world-wide. Catholicism refers to the universality of the Catholic Church. Therefore teachings of Paul contradict teachings of Jesus. Jesus was teaching to be set apart from the world and Paul created a world -wide religion that diverts from the truth.
5. He will unite all nations politically, economically, and religiously
With the creation of Christianity being based on Paul’s teachings, we can see Christianity having a big influence in the world. Christianity, which esentially is Paul’s religion, is the largest religion in the world with 31.6% of the global population and the most diverse in terms of languages, nationalities and geographical regions. We know that any movement takes time. It was the same with Jesus when he came, it took centuries and thousands years for the name Jesus to be spread in the four corners of the world. With the help of technology, internet, easy transportation, entertainment etc. Jesus became the most known name in the history of the world. In the same way Christianity – Paul’s religion, needed to take time to be fully spread and adopted. And historically church and state, which is relationship between church and the government has been very strong in the 16th and 17th century. In the 18th century we’ve experienced separation of the church and state that is separate today. However, with the growth of the Roman Catholic church, we see that the relationship between church and state being on the horizon in the near future. We see that this might very much be on Donald Trump’s agenda which will only mean other countries will follow. Therefore we can say that is is something Paul accomplished through his legacy.
6. He will break his covenant with Israel
Did Paul break his covenant with God? In Paul’s eyes he didn’t as he was a Jew till the end. However, since he mistakenly was teaching that we are under the new covenant, which I in my previous post explained is falsely understood as rejecting the Law of God, therefore he did break the covenant with God by rejecting His Law. We have to observe and see what will happen in the near future with the progress of the “Abrahamic Accords” and cooperation of Israel and United States. This might mean that we will see a break of the covenant on the larger scale but for now these are just assumptions.
Interestingly, have a look what Apostle Paul was preaching regarding the antichrist:
“Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.” 2 Thessalonials 2: 3-8
Consider that “the man of lawlessness is revealed” – meaning that something has always been will finally be revealed. That does not necessarily mean it will be someone new that is coming. In fact, this has been one of the deceptions of the Catholic church. During the protestant movement where a lot of truths came to light about the deception of the Catholic church, The Jesuit Order, also known as the Society of Jesus, came up with a plan of distraction. Francisco Ribera, a Spanish Jesuit theologian, created a futuristic eschatology that places Antichrist in a distant future therefore diverting the attention away from the Catholic church corruption. It’s this idea that the Antichrist is coming to divert the attention from that what is in front of your eyes – that the Antichrist is the creator of Christianity – Apostle Paul.
Notice how Apostle Paul is also telling us “for the secret power of lawlessness is already at work” and that “the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way” – meaning that he is holding himself back because he knows it’s not his time to be revealed.
I am aware I will not be able to convince many people of this, especially if someone is deeply connected to the religion and it’s traditions. But from this analysis it’s clear that Apostle Paul fits that criteria perfectly, and by doing so as a “friend” of the followers of Christ and as this “angel of light”. Deception is not something obvious, deception is something that looks like truth but is not. You have to look into it deeper to see. And I hope and pray that you will.
By Dagmara Z.