By Paul Cahill
Editor’s note: The following is Part II of a series on the Antichrist.
For centuries, great Catholic theologians have voiced differing opinions on the exact details surrounding the rise of the prophesied Antichrist and his link to the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple.
We saw in the last piece that the Antichrist will come “in all power and signs and lying wonders,” such that he will be able to convince many to worship him. St. Paul describes him as:
[T]he son of perdition who opposeth and is lifted up above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself as if he were God. (2 Thess. 2.3-4)
When the Antichrist persecutes the Church, it seems that it will be at the expense of a false religion of his own. This religion will be based around the Antichrist himself, who will sit in the temple of God.
In the previous piece, we saw that Catholic theologians and mystics hold that the Antichrist will be accepted as the Moshiach …More