Becoming Antichrist: Part 1 — How Scripture Frames the Antichrist and the Restrainer

# Overview Pete Garcia opens by listing practical questions readers often ask about the Antichrist: How is he chosen? Is he alive now? Does he know his role? He warns against glorifying the figure, then narrows his focus to what Scripture actually says, primarily using New Testament passages and broader prophetic labels to map the Antichrist's nature and timing.

# What the New Testament actually says Garcia notes the Greek term antichrist (antichristos) appears only in four New Testament verses, all in John's letters. Those passages treat antichrist as both a coming figure and a present spirit. He quotes the relevant ideas:

• 1 John 2:18: "many antichrists have come" and "the Antichrist is coming."
• 1 John 2:22 and 4:3: the antichrist opposes the Father and the Son and denies Christ come in the flesh.
• 2 John 1:7: deceivers who deny Christ's incarnation are labeled antichrist.

Garcia emphasizes that antichrist can mean a current spirit of opposition (many little antichrists) and a final, literal human Antichrist who will rise in the future.

# Broader Biblical labels for the future Antichrist Beyond the four occurrences of the term, Scripture gives many descriptive titles that point to the final Antichrist's identity and fate: worthless shepherd, little horn, man of sin, lawless one, beast, dragon, son of perdition, rider on a white horse. These labels describe behavior and destiny but do not supply an explicit name or identity.

Garcia reminds readers that past generations have incorrectly identified specific historical figures as the Antichrist. Those attempts fail because those figures died and prophecy remains unfulfilled. He asserts believers who hold a pre-tribulation Rapture view will not be present when the final Antichrist is revealed.

# Spirit A central exegetical move in this piece is identifying the Restrainer (2 Thessalonians 2:7–8) as the Holy Spirit. Garcia argues two linked points:

• God and not subject to literal absence.

He points to the change at Pentecost as a precedent: the Spirit existed before Pentecost but changed roles afterward. By analogy, the Spirit can continue to exist after the Rapture while adopting a different primary role suited to the post-Rapture era.

# Scriptural patterns Garcia cites To support the Spirit-as-Restrainer view, Garcia lists historical roles of the Spirit:

• At creation, the Spirit was life-giver.
• Before Christ, the Spirit empowered select individuals for missions (e.g., Moses, David, Samson, John the Baptist).
• At the Incarnation and Jesus' baptism, the Spirit had visible, specific actions in redemptive history.

# Where this leaves readers