12 Key Facts on the Antichrist: What He Is and Is Not

The figure of the Antichrist is one of the most studied and speculated about in biblical prophecy. Revelation 13 describes a beast rising from the sea, empowered by Satan, who blasphemes God, deceives the nations and rules with global authority. Throughout history, countless names have been suggested, from Roman emperors to modern political leaders, yet Scripture provides its own detailed description of what this figure will be like. Pastor Billy Crone addressed the subject directly in a recent teaching, dismissing modern speculation and urging believers to return to the Bible.

What the Antichrist Will Be

Revelation, Daniel and 2 Thessalonians already reveal the Antichrist’s true nature. According to the scriptural teaching:

  • The Opposite of Christ: Everything Jesus is, he’s anti. Jesus is good. He’s holy. He’s kind. He’s merciful. The Antichrist is the opposite. He is bad. He is unholy. He’s mean. He’s vengeful. He is satanic.
  • Empowered by Satan: The dragon defined by Revelation 12 clearly as Satan gave the beast or the Antichrist his power and his throne and great authority. This supernatural empowerment fuels his blasphemous rule.
  • Blasphemous and Proud: The Antichrist was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for 42 months. He will mock God and demand worship.
  • A Global Ruler: Revelation 13:7 confirms the extent of his dominion: “It was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.” His control is planet-wide, not local.
  • A Gentile of Roman Origin: He’ll be of the same ethnic identity as the people who destroyed the city and the temple and in AD 70 it was the Romans. For that reason, the Antichrist will come from Roman Gentile descent.
  • A Self-deifying Figure: He will not believe in any god except for himself. He will claim to be greater than any god, claiming himself to be God.
  • A Conqueror of the Saints: Revelation 13:7 describes the Antichrist making war against believers in the tribulation period. He’s given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them.

What the Antichrist Will Not Be

Crone explained that claims about Donald Trump or other figures being the Antichrist are distractions. He emphasized several points regarding what the Antichrist is not:

  • Not Donald Trump: Addressing online theories, Crone said many people are getting confused. He noted that biblically, horns symbolize power, not names.
  • Not Jewish: Crone rejected the idea of a Jewish Antichrist, saying it messes up the prophetic sequence because the Antichrist leads the final Gentile empire, not Israel.
  • Not Muslim: Pointing to 2 Thessalonians 2, he asked: “What Muslim would ever proclaim himself to be God? And yet that is exactly what we are told the Antichrist will do.”
  • Not historical rulers: Crone listed Nero, Napoleon, Hitler, JFK and Ronald Reagan as examples of false identifications, dismissing numerological tricks and conspiracies that linked them to 666.

The Antichrist in Culture and Philosophy

The character known as the Antichrist has played a prominent role as the villain in many Hollywood classics of religious horror, from The Omen to Rosemary’s Baby. Those who know little of the concept’s biblical roots are still able to recognize the Antichrist as an end times ultimate incarnation of evil. Portrayals of the Antichrist in serious novels tend to have a less sensationalistic, more socio-political bent. For example, the dystopian Lord of the World (1907) is a science-fiction novel in which the Antichrist is a humanist politician who targets Catholics.

In high culture, the best-known use of the name is probably Friedrich Nietzsche’s 1896 book The Antichrist. In it, Nietzsche attacks the Christian virtue of pity for the weak and proposes the concept of the will to power as a definer of moral meaning. Nietzsche wrote: “What is good? Whatever augments the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself, in man. What is evil? Whatever springs from weakness.” This is why Antichrist figures in fiction are often portrayed as an individual who creates his own values, lives by his own code, and in this sense becomes his own God.

Comparison of Attributes

  • Jesus Christ: Good, holy, kind, merciful, and receiving spiritual power to liberate.
  • The Antichrist: Bad, unholy, mean, vengeful, satanic, and empowered by the dragon.