The
False Christ
Scriptural proof that a
counterfeit "Messiah" will precede the Return of Christ
A compilation by Lee Penn
Note: The False Christ has been identified. It
now has a face and a name. Details at the end of this document in the
EPILOGUE.
Before Christ returns, the world will face a deadly, seductive
spiritual counterfeit: the False Christ. This servant of the devil will
not come as an atheist or as an enemy of Christ; he is a particular man
who will claim to be Christ (and God). The False Christ will work evil
miracles, and will demand worship. Most of mankind will follow him, to
spiritual doom. Unless his reign were cut short (which, by the mercy of
God, it will be), none - even God's elect - could survive.
Here is the scriptural proof that there will be a False Christ before
Jesus returns: (1)
1. The prophet Daniel warned against the ultimate sacrilege in the
Temple, the "abomination of desolation." Jesus referred to this same
prophecy in his own teaching about the end of the age.
Daniel
9:27
And he shall confirm the covenant
with many, in one week: and in
the half of the week the victim and the sacrifice shall fall:
and there shall be in the temple
the
abomination of desolation:
and the desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the
end.
Daniel 11:31-32
And arms shall stand on his part, and
they shall defile the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the
continual sacrifice, and they shall
place there the abomination unto desolation. And such as deal wickedly
against the covenant shall deceitfully dissemble: but the people that
know their God shall prevail and succeed.
Daniel 12:9-13
And he said: "Go, Daniel, because the
words are shut up, and sealed until the appointed time. Many shall be
chosen, and made white, and shall be tried as fire: and the wicked
shall deal wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the
learned shall understand. And from
the time when the continual sacrifice shall be taken away, and the
abomination unto desolation shall be set up, there shall be a thousand
two hundred ninety days, Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh
unto a thousand three hundred thirty-five days. But go thou thy ways
until the time appointed: and thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot
unto the end of the days."
2. During Christ's ministry, the religious authorities persecuted Him
for healing an invalid on the Sabbath. Jesus rebuked them, saying that
they would reject Him, and receive an imposter who would come in his
own name:
John
5:42-43
"But I know you, that you have not
the love of God in you. I am come in the name of my Father, and you receive me not: if another shall
come in his own name, him you will receive."
3. Several days before the Passion, Jesus taught the disciples about
the coming fall of Jerusalem and its Temple (which occurred a
generation later, in 70 AD) and about the events leading to the end of
the age.
Jesus said that there would be many
false Christs and false prophets:
Matthew
24:4-5
And Jesus answering, said to them:
"Take heed that no man seduce you: For many will come in my name saying, I am
Christ: and they will seduce many."
Matthew 24:11
"And many false prophets shall rise, and
shall seduce many."
Parallel passages:
Mark 13:5-6
And Jesus answering, began to say to
them, "Take heed lest any man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I
am he; and they shall deceive many."
Luke 21:7-8
And they asked him, saying: "Master,
when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when they shall
begin to come to pass?" Who said: "Take heed you be not seduced; for many will come in my name, saying, I
am he; and the time is at hand: go ye not therefore after them."
The false prophets and pseudo-Christs would work deceptive miracles,
and would send out false evangelists:
Matthew
24:22-26
"And unless those days had been
shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect
those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say to you: Lo
here is Christ, or there, do not believe him. For there shall arise false Christs and
false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to
deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold I have told it to
you, beforehand. If therefore they shall say to you: Behold he is in
the desert, go ye not out: Behold he is in the closets, believe it not."
Parallel passages:
Mark 13: 20-23
"And unless the Lord had shortened
the days, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect which
he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here
is Christ; lo, he is here: do not believe. For there will rise up false
Christs and false prophets, and they shall shew signs and wonders, to
seduce (if it were possible) even the elect. Take you heed
therefore; behold I have foretold you all things."
Previously, as Jesus and the disciples
were on their way to Jerusalem, Jesus had said:
Luke
17: 22-23
"And he said to his disciples: The
days will come, when you shall desire to see one day of the Son of man;
and you shall not see it. And
they will say to you: See here, and see there. Go ye not after, nor
follow them."
Jesus then warned of a coming "abomination of desolation," the ultimate
desecration of the Holy Place. This warning referred in part to the
destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Rome in 70 AD, and in part
to the final desecration of the Church at the end of the age:
Matthew
24:15-16
"When therefore you shall see the abomination of
desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the
holy place: he that readeth let him understand. Then they that
are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains."
Parallel passage:
Mark 13:14
"And when you shall see the abomination of
desolation, standing where it ought not: he that readeth let him
understand: then let them that are in Judea, flee unto the mountains."
4. In his second letter to the Thessalonians, St. Paul gave the
clearest warning about the deeds of the False Christ, the Man of Sin,
and prophesied his doom at the
hands of Christ.
2
Thessalonians 2:3-11
Let no man deceive you by any means,
for unless there come a
revolt first, and the
man of sin be revealed, the 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. Remember you not, that when I was yet
with you, I told you these things? And now you know what withholdeth,
that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity
already worketh; only that he who now holdeth, do hold, until he be
taken out of the way. And then
that wicked one shall be revealed whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with
the spirit of his mouth; and shall destroy with the brightness
of his coming, him, Whose coming
is according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and
lying wonders, And in all seduction of iniquity to them that
perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might
be saved. Therefore God
shall send them the operation of error, to
believe lying: That all may be judged who have not believed the truth,
but have consented to iniquity.
5. Satan and his servants - including the False Christ and his
followers - will present themselves as righteous. They are wolves
in sheep's clothing, as Jesus and as St. Paul warned:
Matthew
7:15
"Beware
of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but
inwardly they are ravening wolves."
2 Corinthians 11: 13-15
"For such false apostles are
deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no wonder: for Satan himself
transformeth himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great
thing if his ministers be transformed as the ministers of justice,
whose end shall be according to their works."
EPILOGUE
(Added on June 12th, 2021)
The False Christ has been identified.
It now has a face and a name.
NOTES
(1) Source documents: The M+G+R Foundation:
The verses listed here are quoted from the Douay-Rheims translation of
the Bible, available on line at http://www.drbo.org/
En Español: El Falso Mesías
según las Escrituras
Originally Published on
Februray 7th, 2013
Changes in format on June 6th, 2021
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