June 14, AD 2010

The Name of the Antichrist
Frank Allnutt

Question: Who is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary?

Answer: She is more widely known as “Queen Elizabeth II of England.”

Question: Who is Marion Michael Morrison?

Answer: You oughta know this one, pilgrim: John Wayne.

Question: Who is Joseph Alois Ratzinger?

Answer: Catholics better get this one right: Pope Benedict XVI.

Question: Who is Barry Soetoro?

Answer: That is a name of a student decades ago enrolled in an Indonesian school. Years ago Barry’s name was changed to Barack Hussein Obama. These days Barry is known by even more new names: “President of the United States,” “The Commander In Chief,” and of course the shortened, less formal and more personal, “President Obama.” He has also been called the “Messiah” by some and the “Antichrist” by others.

That pop quiz sets the stage for considering two key questions:

1. How many names will the Antichrist have over his lifetime?
   
   
2. Which one of those names will be calculated to have the numerical value of 666?
   

The Antichrist’s new name
In Revelation 13:17, we read that the “Beast” [Antichrist] “provides that no one should be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.”

In that verse, “name,” according to Strong’s Concordance, is translated from the original Greek term onoma, which is defined as “a name, authority, cause....”

Senator Barbara Boxer (D CA) recently scolded a hearing witness for calling her “Ma’am” and demanded to be called “Senator Boxer.” Both her demand and the name “Senator Boxer” were indications—if not exertions—of her authority.

President Obama, in a recent White House meeting with leaders of both parties in the Senate, consistently addressed them by their first names, rather than “Senator.” And the Senators all referred to him as “Mr. President.” He never suggested they call him “Barack.”

Some names indicate a cause—“John the Baptist,” for example.

Revelation 13:2 tells us that “the dragon [Satan] gave him [‘beast’ or Antichrist] his power and his throne and great authority” for the cause of dominating the world. That makes me wonder if the number of the Antichrist’s name is calculated with his birth name or some new name that will signify his “authority” and “cause.”

If the 666 calculation is made with the Antichrist’s new name, it is reasonable that such a new name will be revealed when he takes his throne in the new Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and declares that he is God. And that, according to Daniel 9:27, will take place in the middle of Daniel’s 70th Week—three and a half years into what is commonly referred to as the seven-year Tribulation Period.

The name above all names
Meanwhile, so that we are not caught unaware and suddenly overtaken as by a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11), we should be alert to the many antichrists now in the world (1 John 2:18), as we are “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:13).

For “God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

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