Everyone Knows

There are a few things from the Bible that are generally known about, at least generically. The first is the number of the Antichrist which is 666. These three numbers spark fear in people so much that they avoid it like the plague. License plate numbers with it on it are rejected worldwide. If it shows up in a bill some folks want to add or subtract something so it changes. The reason is that it is associated with the mark of the beast mentioned in Revelation 13:18:

Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. (NKJV)

There is even a name for the fear of it and it’s hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia. One former US president changed the number of the street they lived on from 666 to 668. There are even symptoms to see if you have the phobia which include physical (sweating, shakiness) and psychological (intense anxiety) distress. Whether there is any logical reason to have this fear my point is that it is etched deeply in our zeitgeist. And the other thing that is universally known about is the aforementioned beast, the Antichrist. The number and the name are connected by the Bible, but I’m willing to bet you could randomly ask anyone about both and they would know about them. The apprehension for the Antichrist stems from not wanting to be around for him or even thinking they are the man of sin. One Reddit post even asked about it and the replies were telling with one person saying that I was told it was Obama of all people referring to the former US president. Which is a common belief since the Antichrist will be a powerful world leader. In any case both are well known and former or current US presidents always seem to get this kind of buzz about being the Antichrist. Which brings us to the title of this podcast.

Is Donald Trump The Antichrist?

If you think I’m going to answer that now, think again. But I will address it before I’m done. Interestingly enough one Iranian cleric actually suggested that Trump was as we read in an article from Iran International:

A senior cleric appointed by Iran's Supreme Leader suggested in a sermon on Friday that US president Donald Trump was the one-eyed Islamic equivalent of the Antichrist prophesied to menace humanity around judgment day.

"He is completely one-eyed, and this is a sign of the end times," Seyyed Hassan Ameli told congregants in a sermon for Islamic Friday prayers according to the Tehran-based Didban News website. In Islamic eschatology, a figure called Dajjal is a false messiah who will emerge in the end times, spreading corruption and misleading people with false promises of power and prosperity before being ultimately defeated by a righteous messiah. His description in Islamic scripture as "one-eyed" has been interpreted to refer to his deception and ability to manipulate others for personal gain.

He explained his assertion this way:

"The new US president has a completely one-sided view," Ameli said.

"He sees the world purely through a materialistic lens and openly declares that America is a business corporation."

"He covets wealth wherever it exists—whether it's Middle Eastern oil, Syrian oil, or Ukraine’s minerals," he continued. Ameli further criticized Trump’s approach to foreign relations, saying that the US president has used intimidation tactics to pressure countries into submission, expecting Iran to comply in the same way.

However, we need to take a little look at what the Bible tells us about the Antichrist before we can come to any conclusions.

What’s In A Name?

The Antichrist is exactly what the name implies. He will be the opposite of Jesus Christ and will be against Him from start to finish. The Bible uses several titles for this end-times opponent figure: “the antichrist” (1 John 2:18, 2:22; 1 John 4:3; 2 John 1:7), “the man of lawlessness / the son of destruction” and “the lawless one” (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 2:8), and “the beast” (Revelation 13; Revelation 17:8–14). In Daniel, related prophetic descriptions often connected to this figure include “the little horn” (Daniel 7:8, 7:20–26), a fierce king (Daniel 8:23–25), “the prince who is to come” (Daniel 9:26), and the king who “does as he wills” (Daniel 11:36).

While there are many others I think we get the gist of who this will be. I turn to an article from gotquestions.org for more on him:

The meaning of the term antichrist is simply “against Christ.” As the apostle John records in First and Second John, an antichrist denies the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22), does not acknowledge Jesus (1 John 4:3), and denies that Jesus came in the flesh (2 John 1:7). There have been many “antichrists,” as 1 John 2:18 states. But there is also coming the Antichrist.
Most Bible prophecy/eschatology experts believe the Antichrist will be the ultimate embodiment of what it means to be against Christ. In the end times/last hour, a man will arise to oppose Christ and His followers more than anyone else in history. Likely claiming to be the true Messiah, the Antichrist will seek world domination and will attempt to destroy all followers of Jesus Christ and the nation of Israel.
Many of the previous names listed are again used to describe this infamous figure:
Other biblical references to the Antichrist include the following:
The imposing, boastful king of Daniel 7 who oppresses the Jews and tries to “change the set times and the laws” (verse 25). The leader who establishes a 7-year covenant with Israel and then breaks it in Daniel 9. The king who sets up the abomination of desolation in Mark 13:14 (cf. Daniel 9:27). The man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12. The rider on a white horse (representing his claim to be a man of peace) in Revelation 6:2. The first beast—the one from the sea—in Revelation 13. This beast receives power from the dragon (Satan) and speaks “proud words and blasphemies” (verse 5) and wages war against the saints (verse 7).

The article ends with this conclusion:

What is the Antichrist? In summary, the Antichrist is the end-times false messiah who seeks, and likely achieves, world domination so that he can destroy Israel and all followers of Jesus Christ.
One Bad Hombre

The antichrist will be one bad dude but he will also be a slick politician who can charm the daylights out of anyone. However, if you cross him you will pay dearly for it. He is the consummate bad seed and Hollywood took note of this in the original film titled The Omen which was released in 1976. There have been no less than six movies with the last one released in 2024. All of them paint a grim picture of how a little child with the numbers 666 seen on the top of his head and how Satan shepherds him along the way. To be fair, all these films are fiction and play fast and loose with what the Bible actually tells us, but what would you expect from people who want to draw a lot of money from films? As for me, following exactly what is in the Bible is pretty scary all by itself. You have the supernatural angle and the political intrigue of a mysterious man coming on the scene to control the world with deception using signs and wonders to bolster his appeal. Add setting up a one world government meant to control the populace which is seen by getting a mark so no one can buy or sell to the mix and you have the makings of a sure box office hit. But rather than playing up this whole thing up we need to realize that the man of lawlessness won’t be around until we, the Church, is gone. Yes, I believe in the pre-tribulation Rapture and I’m certain this belief alone will spark a lot of comments. Regardless, the Antichrist won’t show up until the actual Tribulation starts whether you think Christians will be gone or go through it. The point is that it is a future time period and you and I need not live in fear of the son of perdition showing up to bedevil and control us. However, the antichrist influence is another thing altogether.

It’s Here Now

…and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. (1 John 4:3, NKJV)

Some think that the Apostle John was inferring that the Antichrist was already living and was one of the Roman leaders at the time. If you’re a preterist who believes that all Bible prophecies have been fulfilled, this theory fits perfectly for you. For those of us who still see end time or last days prophecies yet to happen, this verse points to the growing spirit of the Antichrist’s influence all around us. You see there is a lot of antichrist stuff around now. Yes, I called it stuff. Stuff that the Antichrist would be doing if he could, stuff like pushing abortion and promoting sinful lifestyles and making people think it is good and not evil. And encouraging these same people to call good, righteous living as evil and harmful. Yeah, that kind of stuff. You won’t know a person who plays that role in a true sense of things, but you can see many, many false teachers and prophets filling that role in many ways and in many places.

A Current Fight

We won’t fight the actual Antichrist per se, but we can and should fight the spirit of the Antichrist. 2 Thess 2:7 tells us that man of sin’s influence needs to be held back:

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. (NKJV)

Without getting into a long explanation, this restraining is not just Holy Spirit holding the Antichrist back, which to be fair is true. We must play our part in the restraining mentioned by the Apostle Paul in the verse above since it is more than just Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us, it is Him giving us the anointing and power, and the wisdom to know how to specifically restrain the plans of the Antichrist spirit. It isn’t up to us as individuals to take his plans down. Yes, we need to impact those in our circle of influence and then add our individual talents and abilities to help all the children of God to be an active and effective restraining force. We need to increase His presence by adding Christians to our numbers. That’s a simple way to have more restraining power on the earth. New believers should also walk in the spirit, adding their restraining to the fighting, so discipleship is added to the mix. And we need to diversify what areas of culture we influence and not restrict ourselves to just the Church or religious world. Being part of politics, the arts, education, the family, media, and business not to rule over them, but to provide salt and light in them.

I Thought You’d Never Ask

So, I buried the lead on this one, but is US President Donald Trump the Antichrist? Yes, he is world leader and yes he brokered a peace deal with Israel and like the Iranian cleric his personality and way of dealing with things is abrasive to some, these things don’t make him the Antichrist. I believe that Satan doesn’t know when the Rapture of the church will occur, so he has had a man prepared to become the Antichrist at all times. Hitler could very well have been one of those men as well as any number of malevolent persons throughout history. This is why looking for the Antichrist is futile since Satan is always preparing people to fill that role so there will be logical and viable men at all times. Just in my lifetime many world leaders were thought to be the Antichrist and many are pushing up daisies now. Whatever you think of Trump, he is not publicly known for teaching “Jesus is not the Christ” as a doctrinal platform in the way 1 John 1 and 2 describes. (That’s the specific test John gives.) And in 2 Thessalonians 2, the “man of lawlessness” is described as taking a seat in the “temple of God” and proclaiming himself to be God (or demanding worship in God’s place). That’s not something Trump has done - there’s no historical event where he has entered a “temple of God” in that sense and declared himself God. And he’s certainly not in favor of either a one world government or global currency system. My answer is no; Trump isn’t the Antichrist.

Don’t Live In Fear

That’s my advice to anyone thinking the Antichrist is living here and now. As followers of Jesus, we are overcomers. Christians are overcomers because Jesus already won - over sin, death, and the devil - and He shares that victory with everyone who belongs to Him. We don’t overcome by our own strength; we overcome by staying faithful to Christ, trusting His promises, and walking in obedience even when life gets hard. The world can pressure us, accuse us, and shake us, but it can’t own us—because God’s Spirit lives in us, God’s Word anchors us, and God’s love holds us. Keep your eyes on Jesus: the battle is real, but the outcome is settled. As for the Antichrist, well thankfully, he, along with his false prophet, will be thrown into the lake of fire, where they will spend all eternity in torment (Revelation 19:20; 20:10). Take that Mr. 666!