The Way, the Truth, and the Antichrist

In the golden age of game shows from the fifties and sixties, “To Tell the Truth” ranked among the best and most watched. Four celebrity panelists would be presented with three contestants consisting of the “genuine article” along with two imposters. Through a series of questions, well-crafted responses, and critical listening, the voting would then take place. At the end of the program the “truth” was revealed. The appeal of the show was how truth could be so easily mimicked, and how the panelists could be deceived by half-truths and outright lies.

The truth of our faith, namely Jesus Christ, has been co-opted and counterfeited from the very beginning of Christianity. Any person, place or thing claiming the attributes of the second person of the Blessed Trinity would, in essence, be the antichrist. In the plural sense, anyone claiming messianic hope within the boundaries of human history while eschewing the truth of our salvation in the age to come is guilty of “supreme religious deception” as stated below:

Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh (CCC 675).

The cardinal sin of pride which began in the Garden of Eden, has plagued humankind since the dawn of time. Placing oneself above God is tantamount to being in opposition to Christ, and to true messianic hope. Anti-messianic hope, then, would spring from the same sin of idolatry that the Israelites committed by worshipping the Golden Calf at the foot of Mount Sinai. We read in the book of Exodus:

Then the Lord said to Moses: Go down at once because your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have acted corruptly.They have quickly turned aside from the way I commanded them, making for themselves a molten calf and bowing down to it, sacrificing to it and crying out (Ex 32:7-8).

The “turning away” from God’s commandments that began at Sinai continues to this day. Idolatry has evolved into more complex iterations in the modern world, but at its core still involves the worship of “strange gods”. The strangest “god” is that of self-will, and the deadly sin of pride that obscures God’s truth. While humility embraces mystery and God’s providence, pride looks for certainty in human reasoning at almost any cost. False prophets have always been readily available to lead the faithful astray with teachings and predictions that pertain to the end times. We read in the Gospel of Luke:

Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” He answered, “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky  (Luke 21:7-11).

Religious deception and the “many antichrists” who purvey heresy in all its forms, will die on this side of history and yield to what is beyond history and eternal. The prayer of the early Church, “Maranatha, come Lord Jesus” has remained the same throughout the ages until the present moment. We are in the last times, even though centuries have passed. To God, who views a thousand years as “a watch in the night” according to the psalmist, we are indeed in the “last hour”. The following pericope from scripture was as true then as it is today:

Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus we know this is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of our number; if they had been, they would have remained with us (1 John 18-19).

As we approach Advent, let us pray each day for vigilance while remaining faithful to the creed we profess: “He will come again in Glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end”. Come, Lord Jesus!