But they failed to understand that He would first come as a man who would become the sacrifice for the sins of mankind. They refused to accept Jesus as the Messiah. (This word, Messiah, from the Greek form of the Hebrew Machiach, has the same meaning as the Greek word Christos or Christ—“Anointed One,” signifying the promised King who would rule over Israel and the entire world.) Their denial of Him was an example of a spirit of antichrist.

Today, there are some mainstream Christian churches that accept Jesus as the Christ who became the perfect sacrifice for sin, but they reject His coming return to the earth as conquering King to rule over all nations—which is central to what His being Christ means. So one can claim to believe in Christ, and even accept certain aspects of His life and mission, but still be classified as “antichrist.”

End-time prophecies show that religious people—including professing Christians deceived into accepting a counterfeit Christianity—will oppose many of the teachings of Christ. In that real sense, even today, many professing Christians actually have been deceived by a spirit of antichrist. To learn more about the Kingdom that Jesus will establish on the earth, read The Gospel of the Kingdom.