Antichrist
Why do we fear the coming of the antichrist? Many times i hear people speak of the NWO (New World Order), how it will be the down fall of mankind, we will have one leader guiding the world, we will have "one religion". This is when the antichrist will come forth and rule the world causing great suffering during the reigning period.
Sounds pretty horrible right? But after this Christ will return to earth, in the second coming, and defeat the antichrist. Then, after this epic event there will be peace for a millennia and all will be well. Now depending on who you listen to there are a number of concepts on the time period the antichrist will rule the world, there are a few breakdowns from various sources regarding Prewrath, The Antichrist 1, The Antichrist 2.
The general consensus is 3.5 years of peak suffering for mankind during the absolute reigning period of the antichrist, some have likened this to the "presidents terms in office" and think this is what its pointing to. However, it seems that the total time the antichrist will have power is 10 years, again this is the maximum time a president can serve.
But translational speculation aside, if we are to believe this all to be true what are we in fear of here? It seems that many religious people are against moving toward the "new world order" and the "one religion" concept etc. which would bring about the antichrist... but why ?
If mankind is to suffer for 10 years and be rewarded by 1000 years of peace AND be in the presence of Jesus Christ during the second coming, isn't that something to look forward to ? What we are looking at is 1% suffering for 99% peace... and yet we resist it with every fibre of our being... even though, if we believe this is true, it is an inevitability that mankind will experience this prior to the second coming of Christ...
Would it not be better to face this challenge head on, get it over and done with, with the full knowledge that we will be in a better place for a long time to come after the event ? If not only for ourselves but for those that come after us?
Enter The Human Condition
It seems we have a little Pleasure Principal happening here, that is, instinctive seeking of pleasure and avoiding of pain to satisfy biological and psychological needs. Bringing forth the coming of the antichrist would be causing ourselves pain and we don’t want to do that, even if the reward is great... does this sound familiar?
How many times do we find ourselves wanting positive change in our lives, but when faced with the reality of what it takes to do so we fall short, give up before we start, etc. ? Even if we refuse to see these faults in ourselves, we can most certainly see them in others and in the real world.
People who want to lose weight but won’t change their diets and habits, people who want to get in shape but don’t want to feel the pain of working out, people who want to become a master of a craft or art but don’t want to put in the time, people who want love but refuse to do what it takes to maintain that kind of relationship. The list goes on, and we continue the same patterns expecting things to somehow magically become different.
Life Is Pain
Everyone has their cross to bare and no one has it easy, every life comes with its own problems, some which may not be visible to others. Growth is not easy, it comes at our own expense and we must choose what to sacrifice for the sake of the direction we wish to grow. When we do so we will face adversity, it will be challenging, but if it is what we want… we will find a way, we will persevere, we will overcome, we will succeed.
No matter what we will suffer, we will feel pain in life, but we are the master of how we will experience it. Will it be pain and suffering of inaction? Of yearning for something better than what we have? Or will it be the pain and suffering of applying changes and interventions , growing and gravitating to a better self?
Conclusion
The perspective of some individuals on the subject of the antichrist serves as an analogy of how we may sometimes view our own life. We put off and postpone the application of changes in our lives to become what we want to be, because we fear the pain and suffering it will take to achieve our goals.
Even if the perceived pain is only 1% of the total, the fear of it can be enough for us to refuse to take part in the journey down the path leading to attainment of our wants and needs in life, of reaching our goals and being happy.
Fear
Ultimately it’s up to the individual to choose their own path in life, but how much of it is guided by these emotions? By these thoughts? Preventing us from moving forward. The next time we are faced with a challenge in the pursuit of our happiness, our wants and desires in life... should we not question these thoughts? Analyse and dissect them?
We may discover that we are living by the pleasure principal, avoiding experiencing particular pain, examining it and in turn stagnating growth towards what we desire. If this is the case, i want to know about it, i want to intervene, make those changes, take the challenge... For me i say no pain no gain so... "bring on the antichrist".