John, of all the apostles, was the only one to describe antichrist.  He revealed that antichrist was a spirit, a type of person, and a unique individual all having the same agenda.  Here are some characteristics of antichrist:
--opposed to God--His authority, His Son and His Spirit
--hostile toward the gospel
--antagonistic toward the doctrine of Christ's deity or His humanity
--substitutes human achievement, false religion, and personal experience over God's word and the truth of the gospel
--wars against the people of God and seeks to harm or disarm devoted followers of Christ
--a spirit of deception with unique ability to draw others into wrong thinking
--charismatic enough to draw people away by means of their weaknesses
--the spirit and individuals that operate in that spirit have been around since the days of the apostles
--they possess spiritual knowledge but deny the atoning death of Jesus Christ
--is on a course to hell and is determined to bring all its followers with it
There are all kinds of false or man-made belief systems that captivate our thinking and affect our emotions--from belief in ghosts to UFO's, from many roads leading to heaven to faith in Turin's shroud--people are drawn toward the mystical, the magical, the unknown and the unprovable.  We are made for God, but we are bent toward the cheapest of substitutes.  Antichrist is that spirit which takes advantage of that weakness and draws us away from the truth through our passions, our intellect and our pride.  Our greatest weapon against the spirit of antichrist and those who indulge it is humility and surrender toward God, assurance of our salvation and sonship, and a clear witness in the world.  We must also monitor what we take in, lest we be taken in.

Bro. Don