WISDOM WEDNESDAY- THE RISE OF THE ANTI-CHRIST

The word "antichrist" is made up of two roots: αντ? (anti) + Χριστ?ς (Khristos). "Αντ?" can mean not only "against" and "opposite of", but also "in place of","Χριστ?ς", translated "Christ", is Greek for the Hebrew "Messiah". Both literally mean "Anointed One", and refer to Jesus of Nazareth[4] within Christian, Islamic and Messianic Jewish theology.

Whether the New Testament contains an individual Antichrist or not is disputed. The five uses of the term "antichrist" or "antichrists" in the Epistles of John do not clearly present a single latter-day individual Antichrist. The articles "the deceiver" or "the antichrist" are usually seen as marking out a certain category of persons, rather than an individual.

Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour.

— 1 John 2:18 NRSV (1989)

Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist!

— 2 John 1:7 NRSV (1989)