His word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution. [127] Sunan Ibn Majah 4077". sunnah.com . Retrieved 16 August 2020. In-book reference: Book 36 (Tribulations), Hadith 152; English translation: Vol. 5, Book 36, Hadith 4077 This teaching [of the supremacy of the pope] shows forcefully that the Pope is the very Antichrist, who has exalted himself above, and opposed himself against Christ, because he will not permit Christians to be saved without his power, which, nevertheless, is nothing, and is neither ordained nor commanded by God". [80]

Russell, William R. (1994-12-01). "Martin Luther's Understanding of the Pope as the Antichrist". Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte (in German). 85 (jg): 32–44. doi: 10.14315/arg-1994-jg02. ISSN 2198-0489. S2CID 194015213. Pope Gregory VII (c. 1015 or 1029 – 1085), struggled against, in his own words, "a robber of temples, a perjurer against the Holy Roman Church, notorious throughout the whole Roman world for the basest of crimes, namely, Wilbert, plunderer of the holy church of Ravenna, Antichrist, and arch- heretic." [48] There are a few other parallels between the Bible and Shiite theology that we should note. First, the Bible says that the tribulation will last for seven years, and Islam claims that the Twelfth Imam will rule the world for the same amount of time. Second, Muslims anticipate three years of chaos before the revealing of the Twelfth Imam, and the Bible speaks of three and a half years of tribulation before the Antichrist reveals his true nature by desecrating the Jewish temple. Third, the Bible describes the Antichrist as a deceiver who claims to bring peace but who actually brings widespread war; the expectation of the Twelfth Imam is that he will bring peace through massive war with the rest of the world.Sahih Muslim 2937a". sunnah.com . Retrieved 17 June 2021. In-book reference: Book 54 (Tribulations and Portents of the Last Hour), Hadith 134; Reference: Sahih Muslim 2937a In the Counter-Reformation, the views of Preterism and Futurism were advanced by Catholic Jesuits beginning in the 16th century in response to the identification of the Papacy as Antichrist. These were rival methods of prophetic interpretation: the futurist and the preterist systems both are in conflict with the historicist method of interpretation. Jonker, Gerdien (2015). The Ahmadiyya Quest for Religious Progress: Missionizing Europe 1900-1965. Brill Publishers. p.77. ISBN 978-90-04-30529-8.

Prophetic inevitability is a dangerous thing; it immobilizes the church. Not too many decades ago we were told that communism was the “movement of the antichrist.” ((Josef Tson, “The Cornerstone at the Crossroads,” Wheaton Alumni (August/September 1991).)) Oswald J. Smith assured the world in 1926 that fascism—led my Benito Mussolini in Italy—was the face of antichrist. Of course, Adolf Hitler was an obvious candidate. Some still cling to it. In Robert Van Kampen’s The Sign (1999) we were treated with the claim that Adolph Hitler is still the Antichrist. One day he will rise from the dead and be worshipped by the entire world when they witness his resurrection. Constance Cumbey, in her Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow (1983), identified the New Age Movement as the “spiritual” worldview that would usher in the antichrist religion. The list could go on and on. Prophecy has nothing to do with any of these movements like it had nothing to do with the horrors of the French Revolution, the Civil War, and World War I.Valentine, Simon (2008). Islam and the Ahmadiyya jamaʻat: history, belief, practice. Columbia University Press. p.148. ISBN 978-0-231-70094-8. Sahih Muslim 2934a". sunnah.com . Retrieved 17 June 2021. ; In-book reference: Book 54 (Tribulations and Portents of the Last Hour), Hadith 128; Reference: Sahih Muslim 2934a Within the Shiite branch of Islam, there have been twelve imams, or spiritual leaders appointed by Allah. These began with Imam Ali, cousin to Muhammad, who claimed prophetic succession after Muhammad’s death. Around AD 868, the Twelfth Imam, Abu al-Qasim Muhammad (or Muhammad al Mahdi), was born to the Eleventh Imam. Because his father was under intense persecution, the Mahdi was sent into hiding. About the age of 6, when his father was killed, he briefly came out of hiding but then disappeared again. It is said that the Mahdi has been hiding in caves ever since and will supernaturally return just before the day of judgment to eradicate all tyranny and oppression, bringing harmony and peace to the earth. He is the savior of the world in Shiite theology. According to one writer, Imam Mahdi will combine the dignity of Moses, the grace of Jesus, and the patience of Job in one perfect person.

Froom 1948, pp.244–245: "The reformers were unanimous in its acceptance. And it was this interpretation of prophecy that lent emphasis to their reformatory action. It led them to protest against Rome with extraordinary strength and undaunted courage. [...] This was the rallying point and the battle cry that made the Reformation unconquerable." According to the Sunni ḥadīth, the Dajjal will then be chased to the gate of Lod where he will be captured and killed by ʿĪsā. [3] [10] ʿĪsā will then break the Christian cross, kill all the pigs, abolish the jizya tax, and establish peace among all nations. [13] Ḥadīth literature [ edit ] John Chrysostom (c. 347–407) warned against speculating about the Antichrist, saying, "Let us not therefore enquire into these things". He preached that by knowing Paul's description of the Antichrist in 2 Thessalonians, Christians would avoid deception. [32]

nothing else than the kingdom of Babylon and of the very Antichrist. For who is the man of sin and the son of perdition, but he who by his teaching and his ordinances increases the sin and perdition of souls in the church; while he yet sits in the church as if he were God? All these conditions have now for many ages been fulfilled by the papal tyranny." [81] There are two principles that mark the papacy as the Antichrist. One is that the pope takes to himself the right to rule the church that belongs only to Christ. He can make laws forbidding the marriage of priests, eating or not eating meat on Friday, birth control, divorce and remarriage, even where there are not such laws in the Bible. The second is that he teaches that salvation is not by faith alone but by faith and works. The present pope upholds and practices these principles. This marks his rule as antichristian rule in the church. All popes hold the same office over the church and promote the same antichristian belief so they all are part of the reign of the Antichrist. The Bible does not present the Antichrist as one man for one short time, but as an office held by a man through successive generations. It is a title like King of England. [93] Luther's Last Battles: Politics And Polemics 1531–46 By Mark U. Edwards, Jr. Fortress Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-8006-3735-4 Smartphones are paving way for the Antichrist, says head of Russian church". The Telegraph. 8 January 2019. A The Antichrist has been equated with the "man of lawlessness" or "lawless one" of 2 Thessalonians 2:3, though commentaries on the identity of the "man of lawlessness" greatly vary. [130] The "man of lawlessness" has been identified with Caligula, [131] Nero, [132] and the end times Antichrist. Some scholars believe that the passage contains no genuine prediction, but represents a speculation of the apostle's own, based on contemporary ideas of the Antichrist. [131] As "being in league with other figures" [ edit ]