Cemetery Culture: The Gods of Death

Antichrist

Christian

If you read the Apocalypse of St. John as a prophecy of the end days, the Antichrist is that tyrant who will rise up in opposition to Christ and his followers, exalting himself as divine. The impact of the title is but slightly diminished by an allegorical interpretation of Revelations, seeing it as an account of the trials that a Christian faces in this horrid little world of ours.

Ever since the Middle Ages, Christians have made a sport of identifying one or another notable personage as the Antichrist. Crusades were preached against the Muslim occupiers of Jerusalem; their prophet, Mohammed, was identified as the Antichrist. Luther thought the Pope was the Antichrist. The Pope said it was Luther. These days televangelists draw followers and dollars by their warnings of the coming of this King of All Worldly Evil. (Some of us believe that conservative televangelists themselves represent the Antichrist, allegorically speaking.) Other famous people who have been identified with the Beast of Revelations include Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Alaistair Crowley (who was eager to grab the title for himself as a means of self-promotion), Henry Kissinger, and Ronald Wilson Reagan (because he has three names of six letters each -- 666 which is the "number of the Beast".)

Watchers for the Antichrist in the late 20th century have become more vigilant as general fears of nuclear holocaust intensify. Americans, in particular, are especially prone to this new Millernarianism (named for the prophet of a 19th Century Doomsday); they have sought the face of the Beast in "godless Communists" and Middle Eastern Dictators, forgetting that our scientists remain at the forefront of life snuffing nuclear weapons research and that our politicians still perpetuate the nuclear arms race, even after the end of the Cold War. Los Angeles-based evangelist Hal Lindsay has made a tidy sum for himself by ticking off events that he thinks fulfil prophecy, never mentioning in subsequent bestsellers the times his predictions have failed to materialize. Lindsay and those who follow him forget the admonition of Christ found in Luke and Matthew that says "the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." [See Luke 12:40 and Matthew 24:43].

The prophecy/allegory racket collapses when one views Revelations as apocalyptic literature, that is an account of recent events disguised as visions of the future. Most scholars agree that the Antichrist is none other than the Emperor Nero, who did slaughter Christians and declare himself as a god above all other gods. Roman history, however, does not sell books in the 21st century. We can expect more false Doomsday prophets in the days to come.