In case you haven’t noticed what’s been happening in the past few decades, regarding some of the most toxic things in society right now, I’ve developed a handy checklist:
1) Victimhood ideology disguised as compassion
2) Tyrannical ideology disguised as social justice
3) Nanny-state ideology disguised as responsibility
4) Authoritarian ideology disguised as leadership
5) Censorship ideology disguised as safeguarding
6) Conformist ideology disguised as unity
7) Groupthink ideology disguised as empathy
8) Intolerance ideology disguised as inclusivity
9) Disintegration ideology disguised as tolerance
All connected to and underpinned by the worst and most pervasive one:
10) Anti-Christ ideologies disguised as virtue.
Remember, the term antichrist literally means something or someone that is "against Christ" or "opposed to Christ" - not to be confused with the specific figure of The Antichrist prophesied in scripture (although they are related, of course)
I hope you thought about each one carefully, and didn’t just whizz past them. These are a great many of the fundamental assaults on UK society right now.
Now, I’m not one for conspiracy theories - because most things that sound like a conspiracy theory usually are. But what I’m now going to say might sound like a bit like conspiracy to the uninitiated, but it really isn’t. These ideologies are, in part, a deliberate, orchestrated attempt to undermine Christian truths and influences by people who seek to acquire or protect the self-serving power, authority and influence they have attained. And they are, in part, the results of a scrambled bottom-up attempt of individuals to present themselves as solutions to societal problems, but are in reality, distortions and dismantlement of the values that Christianity upholds.
The promotion of division, control, conformity, intolerance and the disintegration of the family unit under the guise of compassion and tolerance, is a combined deliberate and accidental attempt to undermine Christian principles of individual freedom, personal responsibility, and the sanctity of the family unit. Christianity teaches the importance of personal accountability, love, and truth, while these ideologies distort those virtues to elevate the state, the collective or the powerful individuals in society over God.
In many of the bottom-up cases, this erosion is a passive shift, but in the top-down attempts, it is a deliberate Promethean re-engineering of societal norms aimed at replacing the Divine standards. And for those who study God’s word, the Bible gives many prophecies about this, and in addition to antichrist influences (especially in the letters of John), the Bible presents a vivid and alarming picture of the rise of The Antichrist; a deceptive end-times ruler who emerges onto the world stage through political cunningness and spiritual deceit.
For example, in Daniel 7 and 8, he is symbolised as a "little horn" who arises among ten kings, speaking boastfully and waging war against God’s people. Daniel 8 elaborates that this figure will be skilled in manipulation, will cause deceit to prosper, and will consider himself superior to others. These passages point to a political ascent marked by strategic conquest, rising from a coalition of nations - perhaps something that simulates a revived modern day version of the Roman Empire in the shape of a global alliance. The Antichrist is more than just one person, of course, it’s a form of dominance that is deeply political, and one which has the power to subdue others to consolidate its own authority.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12, St. Paul echoes this warning, describing the Antichrist as the “man of lawlessness.” - which I take to mean someone who can exalt himself above all that is called God and will sit in the temple of God proclaiming himself to be divine. In a way that Nietzsche forewarned (although with a different perspective), he will use false signs and deceptive wonders to mislead those who have rejected the truth, blending political control with religious dominance. I know that tyrants who act as a counterfeit Messiah, and elicit spiritual/political/economic deception to unify and control the masses under his rule, are nothing new - but I think what’s more compelling about these prophecies is a matter of scale.
We now live in times in which mass global connectivity and worldwide attention is possible, and I think that is going to be one of the key elements in the fulfilment of these prophecies (this globalised factor is also true of prophecies like in Matthew 24:14, Revelation 11:9-10, Revelation 13:7, Revelation 13:14-18, Revelation 16:14-16, Revelation 18:11-17). For the Antichrist to appear as the beast from the sea, empowered by Satan, and rule over every tribe, language, and nation, we need a globalised world, and this is symbolised as a modern day fall of Babylon – which is a symbol of the world’s corrupt political and economic systems.
I’m not saying we live in the final part of end times (although I know many Christians who believe we do) - but it should be plain to see that at the heart of this contemporary transformation is a rejection of God’s authority, and a push to place ultimate power in human hands, whether through state control, ideological conformity, social engineering or simply masses of individuals acting on their own whims and desires unaware of the bigger picture or influence this is having. And it should also be plain to see that these are the same mechanisms that are foretold in those prophecies. They all work not only to undermine the individual’s relationship with God, but also to replace the Divine order with a gradual collapse of the moral and spiritual values that lead us all the way up to God’s Truth in Christ.
