What part of the world will the Antichrist come from?

Awesome question! And it is a question that Bible scholars have debated for years! The truth is no one is really sure. The Bible does not specifically say where the Antichrist will come from or what race he will be.  What we absolutely can say for certain is that someday he will come and be revealed to us all. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 clearly tells us, “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”

There is some speculation based on verses in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation that the Antichrist will be from a revived Roman Empire. Others believe that the Antichrist will come from either Western or Eastern Europe (Well, gee whiz! That really narrows it down, doesn’t it???). And yet others believe he will come from the Middle East, possibly around Syria.

Again, we just don’t know. BUT, we do know one thing for certain: no matter where he is from: his reign is only for a short period of time during a time called the Tribulation. Then, he loses…BIGTIME! Christ will conquer him and all those who follow him. Hallelujah!!!

Do we get a second chance if we are left behind?

In the book Left Behind for Kids, it talks about kids who were left behind and then come to Christ. In church we learned there would be no more chances. I’m confused!

Wowee! This is an awesome question! It is also a very difficult question to answer because of the various theological debates that have been going on for centuries concerning the end times. That is a very fancy way to say that Bible scholars have argued for a long time over the interpretation of the Book of Revelation and other prophetic books of the Bible regarding the end times.

So, I am going to answer your question based on the Left Behind for Kids premise. The authors of that series, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, are respected Christian scholars and authors. In fact, Dr. LaHaye is a nationally recognized speaker on Bible prophesy. He is also a minister and has written 45 books on a bunch of Biblical subjects, including Bible prophesy. So, while their books are fictionalized (made-up) accounts, they have written their stories on their interpretation of the Holy Bible.

The Left Behind series authors, for both the kid and the adult versions, base their stories on the “pre-tribulation rapture” theory. That basically means that the authors believe that Jesus will “take away” his people before the Tribulation period. Some Christian scholars believe there is a mid-tribulation rapture, some believe there is a post-tribulation rapture and some believe there is no such thing as the rapture. I won’t get into who is right or wrong but let’s assume the authors interpretation is correct and there is a pre-Tribulation rapture (by the way, on an interesting side note, you won’t find the word “rapture” anywhere in the Holy Bible).

So, that means that before all the bad stuff happens involving the anti-Christ, Jesus will take away all the people, including kids, that are saved and who believe in Him. That doesn’t mean that those people who are “left behind” are doomed though. According to the authors’ interpretation of Scripture, those people who are not taken during the rapture still get a second chance to come to Christ although life is supposed to get a lot tougher during that period of time.

Scripture also supports the belief that you can be saved anytime before Christ’s second coming. If you look in Matthew 24, up to the point when Christ returns, those who are “left behind” can be saved. Once He returns, though, it’s too late. That’s why we are all warned by Jesus when He says:

“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. “ (Matthew 24:36-44)

Don’t ever forget that we have a God of “second chances.” He loves you and does not want you to perish. But, you have to be truly repentant (sorry) and believe that Jesus is who He says He is.

“Yet to all who received Him, to all who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)

If I am alive when Jesus comes again, how will I know it’s him so I can follow him?

I want to answer this in two ways. (1) How can you recognize Jesus? (2) How can you recognize the deceiver (the antichrist)?

(1) How can you recognize Jesus?

When John was on the island of Patmos, Jesus came to him in a vision. At first John was terrified. Revelation 1:17 says that John fell at Jesus’ feet as if he was dead! I remember when I was 16 and backpacking in the woods. I ran into a bear, and it charged me. I was so scared it felt like my legs were full of sand and I couldn’t move at all! Well, John was so scared that he completely fell down.

Right away (still in verse 17), Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.” Still, don’t you wonder why someone who has spent his whole life following Jesus would be so afraid of Jesus? Verses 12 through 16 tell us what John saw, and help us to understand. When John turned to see Jesus, John saw the light from seven great lamps. If you take seven really strong lights and look directly into them, maybe that’s kind of like what John saw! Standing in that super bright light was Jesus, his eyes “were like blazing fire,” his head and hair “white like wool.” Jesus’ feet were “like bronze glowing in a furnace.” His face was “like the sun shining in all its brilliance.” Everything, including Jesus, was just bright, bright, bright!

Then in Revelation 19:11-16, John writes about Jesus’ return. John describes Jesus as a rider on a white horse, and he gives Jesus several different names in those verses – that’s to try to describe how awesome Jesus is. Jesus is called “Faithful and True” and “Word of God” and Jesus has written on him two other names. One is “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” and the other one we don’t know (vs. 12). It says that Jesus is wearing a robe, and he is being followed by the armies of heaven, all on white horses, and all wearing clean, white robes. Wow! What a picture!

Remember, this is from John’s vision. Jesus doesn’t have to look exactly like that for this to make sense. Maybe that is exactly how Jesus will appear, or maybe John is simply doing his best to describe for us the awesomeness of Jesus’ return. John is definitely more concerned with what happens than exactly what Jesus look like.

So if you ask me how we will recognize Jesus when he comes again, I think we can know the answer from how John describes Jesus – Jesus will be absolutely unmistakable! When we see Jesus, even though right now we don’t know exactly what he will look like, we will for sure know it’s him!


(2) How can you recognize the deceiver (the antichrist)?

The Bible also doesn’t tell us exactly what the antichrist looks like. But John in his letters (1 John and 2 John) does say some important things that will help us know who the antichrist is so we don’t follow him. The Bible doesn’t say exactly, but the antichrist may be one person, or it may be a group of people. It doesn’t matter, though, because the Book of Revelation tells us that Jesus wins and Satan loses!

1 John 2:22 and 1 John 4:3 and 2 John 1:7 tell us clearly how to know who is the antichrist. Those verses tell us that those who deny that Jesus is our Savior, that Jesus is real, or who say that Jesus didn’t really come to earth are the antichrists. Wow! So what does that mean for you and me? Don’t ignore Jesus, or don’t accept a substitute religion that will turn your attention away from Jesus. That is what we would do if we were to follow the antichrist.

So what do you do? You do what you are doing right now. You are doing the right thing because you have faith in the right person – Jesus. Continue to ask me hard questions – that’s good. Continue to learn – that’s good too. Continue to worship God. Continue to have faith in Jesus – even though you can’t exactly understand everything about God and faith – that is exactly what faith is. You see, our Lord did not give John the command to write the Book of Revelation, or tell us about antichrists, or tell us about his return just to satisfy our curiosity. He has two reasons for sharing that stuff with us. One is to challenge us to be faithful to him. The other is to encourage us with the message that Jesus wins, Satan loses. Cool, huh?