Antichrist

The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,
which shall be diverse from all kingdoms,
and shall devour the whole earth,
and shall tread it down and break it in pieces.

And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall rise:
and another shall rise after them;
and he shall be diverse from the first,
and he shall subdue three kings.

And he shall speak great words against the most High,
and shall wear out the saints of the most High,
and think to change times and laws:
and they shall be given into his hand until
a time and times and the dividing of time.

Daniel 7:23-25

This eleventh king, then, is Antichrist.

The Revelation of St. John echoes and amplifies Daniel's description of the Beast. Indeed, reading a compilation of writings about the Antichrist, spanning nearly two millennia (50-1850 AD), I was struck both by the continuity of the themes established in Daniel and Revelation, and by how those themes were embellished over time. I imagined I could see the process of myth-making at work. As a confirmed Jungian, I certainly have nothing against myth-making, and would be the last person to label myths as "unreal" — psychologically, they are among the most powerfully real elements of any culture — yet I just have to ask, are we really to expect a flesh-and-blood Antichrist to ride herd over the Apocalypse? If so, he must already be well along in his singular career, nearly ready to burst upon the world stage, take over the U.N. and/or the Papacy, and do his thing.

The question of his existence is sharpened, I think, by examining the features that have been consistently ascribed to him. To start with, he is a man who pretends to be Christ, and who convinces most people that he is. But of course he must also live up to his billing as the baddest dude ever — quite a balancing act!

It is said (by good Christians) that he will be the illegitimate son of a whore who indiscriminately services both Jews and Hindus, and that his father will be a Jew. He, therefore, will be a Jew (as he must if he is to be accepted by the Jews as Christ). He is to be born near Babylon, or in a desert land between two seas: in any case, in the Middle East.

No problem so far. But then he is to somehow mobilize and lead a military force that is powerful enough to establish his hegemony over the entire region, the interests of the Americans, Europeans, and Russians notwithstanding. And then he is supposed to march into Jerusalem triumphant and be hailed by the Jews as their Savior. How many powerful Middle Eastern military leaders do you know who are welcome in Israel?

If he pulls off that miracle, the rest — making the blind see, the deaf hear, and the dead rise; walking on water, changing the direction of rivers, raising storms and calming them — should be easy. And then it's on to the serious business of branding all the foreheads of the faithful with the Mark of the Beast, and starving and torturing to death as many of the naysayers — about one-third of humanity — as he can lay hands on.

There is to be a side excursion to Rome, where he will unseat the Pope and lay waste to the city, in the best old barbarian tradition. He will then make war on Russia, the fortress of true Christianity.

But he will be primarily opposed by two old Prophets, Enoch and Elijah, who were last seen ascending bodily up to heaven in a cloud (Revelation 11:11-12). They will be back (must already be back!) for a repeat performance: They will pester Antichrist so unmercifully, on his own doorstep in Jerusalem, that he will be moved to slay them. He will leave their bodies to rot in the street. Big mistake. Because after three and a half days (just like last time), they will be resurrected and — ZOOOOP! — up to Heaven they'll fly again.

AC, not to be outdone, will thereupon announce that after a fortnight (some say a month) he too will ascend to Heaven, so that none may doubt his divinity. On the appointed day he will majestically seat himself on a throne on Mt. Olivet and, before a huge television audience, propel himself skyward (with a little help from the Devil ... or will it be the Aliens?). But then, lo!, the Archangel Michael will strike him down with a tremendous lightning bolt (ray gun?), and he will be toast. (Jerusalem will be destroyed in the ensuing earthquake.)

I'm not saying it won't happen that way; but I do suspect we post-moderns, cowering here in the very shadow of Armageddon, may have a bit of perspective to lend to the understanding of Antichrist. I think Daniel's words make more sense now. He told us that Antichrist would be the eleventh and greatest king of "the fourth kingdom upon earth," the kingdom that shall be unique among kingdoms (does "sole global superpower" ring any bells here?) and which "shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down and break it in pieces." And if that kingdom is, umm, us, then Antichrist ... but I don't want to leap to conclusions.

Final note: I have had an inkling that this degree of evil is in fact at large in the world.

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