Few things in Christianity grab folk's attention like the topic of the Antichrist.  Preachers are often asked, "Who do you think it is?"   People nominate all sorts of "candidates" for the position.  Almost every U.S. President since Abraham Lincoln has been suggested; as have Hitler, Stalin, Mao and the current President of Iran, just to name a few.  

I'll be honest: I have absolutely NO IDEA who The Antichrist might be, and I'm not too concerned about that.  I'm sure that his identity will be revealed at the proper time.  But in the frenzied quest to identify this one individual people ignore what the inspired writer penned in  

1 John 2:18     

  Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come.   

  While the world waits for that one supremely evil individual there are countless people who are already doing his work!  These people fight against Christ and His Church.  Some of these people are in the entertainment business, some are in the media, and some are in government.   And some of them are right there in the workplace with you.  Anyone who is against Christ is, by definition, "antichrist".  

The Apostle Paul told Timothy that in that last days people would become worse and worse.  A cursory look at each day's headlines bears that out.   It would be easy to become discouraged as the world sinks deeper and deeper into evil.  

But take a look back at the 1 John 2:18 passage.  John reminds us that "this is the last hour."  That means a couple of things:

      1) It means that evil's time is running out....it will not go on forever.

      2)  It means the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is closer now than it has ever been.   

And that is exciting news.  Rather than sweat out who the Antichrist is (why worry? he is doomed anyway!) let's focus on the return of our Lord.   Let's close this article with another Scripture from the pen of the Apostle John.  This one speaks of the Lord's return and is the next to last verse of the Bible  

(Rev. 22:20)  

Amen.  Come Lord Jesus!  

See you soon!

Bill