Is Western Society really the Antichrist... or not?

Taking an objective look

Leaning-in

Not long after the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war last year, a media article came out that set my brain whirring. Patriarch Kirill, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow, proclaimed that what Russia was doing was holding back the Antichrist.

Pat. Kirill somehow articulated, in blunt language, a concern that had been bubbling away in my unconscious mind. Where really was the West heading?

For many years, it seemed to me that our progressive secularism, slowly spreading around the world via the aspirations of the non-Western middle classes, was good. We were leaving behind the darkness of our past - the violence, the racism, the misogyny, the lack of concern for others - and slowly stepping up into a bright new globalized future of tolerance, care and love.

However, Covid and its outfall threw a big spanner into my idealistic mind. I felt I was becoming aware of a darkness present behind the scenes. Was the West actually the good guy? Or was it really just planning some form of totalitarian takeover of the planet, to be achieved by getting everyone weak and dependent on the state to survive? Had I been fooled all along? Was the West actually the Antichrist, long predicted by the Bible?

This question might perhaps be considered to be the domain solely of conspiracy theorists and to thus not deserve serious attention. I disagree. I think it is valid to investigate the possibility and I further think it’s important not to be controlled by fear of being categorized as some tinfoil-hat-wearing loony. And, of course, it’s necessary to be as objective as one can be when dealing with a question of this nature.

Over the last year, I have noticed this topic being picked up by quite a few academics and serious writers. Figures such as Jonathan Pageau, Mary Harrington, Paul Kingsnorth and N.S Lyons are all actively writing on the potential Antichrist connection.

I have decided to look for myself.

Will the Real Antichrist please stand up

What was straight-away confusing for me were the variety of characters who seemed to fit the bill for the Antichrist figure in the various books of the Bible where he appears - Daniel, 1&2 John, 2 Thessalonians, Matthew, Mark and Revelation. Different names were being employed. And this Antichrist had different attributes. He seemed to be different people in different books.

One type was clearly just some form of “false prophet,” who declares himself to be the messiah but does so principally for self-aggrandizement. I don’t think you could really put this label on the West. The West does not claim to be messianic. Well, maybe a little in the manifest destiny days or the GWB era. But not anymore.

However, reading further into some of these Biblical references, it did strike me that the Antichrist might also be considered to be some kind of trickster character or force that succeeds in convincing humanity that God does not exist, or that the material world is all that there is.

Now this notion does seem to me to be quite in line with where our modern secular culture appears to be heading. I figure most people in my circle of friends no longer believe in God and broadly believe that the material world is all that really exists, anything else being the work of our imagination.

I think that pre-Covid this had not really been much of an issue. The rise of materialist thinking, coupled with the increasing lack of faith in God, had proven to be a spur that drove Western culture forwards. No God and less familial duties meant more time for working and shopping. We worked harder. We played harder. We were on top of the world anyway. So all good. And the rise of materialism served to blunt some of the more annoying and archaic sharp edges of the religious and family worldview.

No one really seemed to have much cause to consider where all this atheistic materialism was really heading. Hey, it was just a good time.

But then Covid hit and this gave people a heap of time to both introspect on where their lives were going and to become concerned about the speed that freedoms were being snatched away. The need to harmonize narratives around vaccination also provided a reason for governments, corporations and media to come together and act in lockstep with one another, amplifying the sense of over-arching control still further.

Now, mid-2023, I think it’s time to consider the Antichrist option. Is there a realistic scenario for our future humanity that fits with one of the Biblical Antichrists?

I think there is and that it’s good to be forewarned.

Deeper, deeper

Something clear to me is that Western society is starting to lose its depth. We are becoming ever more dissociated from the sense of our body and this means that our cognition cannot become embodied and must therefore be held on the surface. I recall a story I heard recently of a survey where a group of teenagers indicated that, forced to make a choice, they would rather look good on Instagram than in real life.

What happens when we can no longer embody our cognition, when all we have is thinking disconnected from emotionality and our sense of a body?

Firstly, we become hypersensitive. We cannot cope with anything that stirs up much feeling. Offered the option, we will vote over and over again for more protection from the outside world. Any sense of freedom or uncertainty becomes scary.

Secondly, we lose any sense of personal willpower and become terrified to take a position. Disconnected from the sensation of our back, we cannot stand up straight psychologically. We become preoccupied with how we should “be” in upcoming social situations and choose to ignore our own feelings, in order to fit in.

Thirdly, we can no longer go on any kind of inner journey. We become trapped in an immature, limbo world, addicted to anything which can cause our brain to generate enough dopamine to briefly feel good about ourselves. As anyone will testify who has encountered deep adversity in life, and come through to the other side, we have so much inside of us. Our sense of “I” is merely the tip of the iceberg of our true being.

A society of the types of people I’m describing above could be considered any totalitarian’s fantasy. Powerless, scared, compliant, desperate to please and get along with others - we would be the wet dream of any psychopath who wanted to rule the world.

When I project in my mind, from where we are now to where we might be in the second half of this century, I think the above scenario is one realistic prospect. I don’t think it’s at all beyond the bounds of possibility.

But does this fit in with any of the Biblical Antichrist-type figures or forces? Let’s take a look.

Daniel 7

The Old Testament book of Daniel is the first place where an Antichrist-type figure rocks up. This book concerns itself mostly with visionary writing and prophecy, in the form of dreams. In Chapter 7, parts of Daniel’s dream are recounted thus:

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. Daniel 7:7

The four beasts seen in this vision of Daniel are widely considered to be the great human empires, the one arising out of the ashes of the other. These have been named as the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman empires.

Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; Daniel 7:19

………..

Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. Daniel 7:23

I am of course cherry-picking, in true conspiracy theorist fashion, those bits of the chapter which could possibly be construed to have a relevance here.

But, nevertheless, I guess one might consider that the Roman empire did not truly end but eventually led to industrial capitalism. Certainly, many of the principles on which Rome was founded seemed to make their way down through the centuries to the empires of the West. In addition, there does seem to me to be something of this breaking the world into pieces, when I look at how we tend to endlessly categorize and archive manifest forms.

I mean, it’s not a very striking correlation. My neck-hairs remain unaroused. There’s a long time between the fall of Rome and the Enlightenment. And, if you want to consider that the Roman Empire continued in the East, at Constantinople and then passing up through Georgia into Russia, well, then Patriarch Kirill would still be on that side.

Let’s move on and look at the most notorious source for the Antichrist.

Revelation 12 & 13

As with Daniel, there is no actual direct reference to an Antichrist - ho antichristos - in Revelation’s original (and reputedly rather low-quality) Greek text. The word Antichrist seems to only be found in the letters of John (1 & 2 John) where it does most definitely appear to be restricted to the notion of a false prophet.

In Revelation, as in Daniel, the Antichrist takes the form of a “beast” and first shows up in Chapter 12. Let’s take a look…

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Revelation 12:7-9

………………..

And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. Revelation 12:13-15

Hmm, I’m not really feeling it. I mean, the bit about the persecution of women rings true. But otherwise I don’t see much that could relate to the modern world without some serious confabulation.

But let’s continue on to Chapter 13…

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. Revelation 13:1-6

So, we have the dragon, cast out of heaven and landed on earth from the chapter preceding. And now, from out of the sea, comes this beast, who is apparently given authority by the dragon.

I do get a vague sense here that this could be construed as the way our prefrontal cortex allows us to create an ego - a sense of personal selfhood - and thus a sense of detachment from the world around us. There could be something here about the way that evolution furnished us with the capacity to think and act for ourselves. And this could be considered to be a form of blasphemy, I think, in the sense that we do what we want, not perhaps what any “God” might choose for us.

But it is all kinda tentative. Let’s continue on down…

¹¹ And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

¹² And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

¹³ And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

¹⁴ And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

¹⁵ And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

This I think is more interesting. Now a second beast has rocked up. It’s a little confused but perhaps this second beast has created technology (fire come down from heaven). And now all earth’s citizens are worshipping the first beast, who I’m suggesting could be the human ego. I mean, that’s not a bad fit.

And then we’re getting stuff about this image of the beast. This again I find intriguing. Our sense of personal selfhood can further develop into a second stage - an image of self. And to this self-image we can assign attributes which, in reality, we actually do not have. Rather in the way that someone can make themselves look super-cool on Instagram but actually still be an utter drag or creep in real life.

¹⁶ And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

¹⁷ And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

¹⁸ Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Not really sure about the whole mark thing. Is it to do with biometrics? And this thing about having to have the mark, or the number, in order to buy or sell? And the number this relates to being 666.

Of course, plenty of people have conjectured that this 666, that we need to buy or to sell, refers to the barcode. David Thewlis, in Mike Leigh’s 1993 movie Naked, famously launches into a diatribe on the subject…

I mean, seen like this, it does all look pretty pat. But of course, I am just pulling one strand of narrative out of a heap of strands because it seems to fit the bill.

But, for me, even taking this whole confirmation bias thing into account, the second half of Revelation 12 and the whole of Revelation 13 are nonetheless interesting. Indeed, even whilst copying and pasting the quotes from a bible website, I was beset with popups and other online annoyances and it was a real struggle to get the job done! Everyone wants our attention and our money, even on bible sites. I think it’s fair to say that there is at least some level of correlation here to the scenario I set out earlier.

Conclusion

I’m grateful for writing this piece. I always find having to write about something that I only have a dim grasp of pushes me to understand what I’m feeling into better. I hope that you have found it interesting too.

I don’t see that anyone could realistically claim that any of the Biblical passages relating to the various form of Antichrist are demonstrably taking place in today’s world. But for me, there is enough intriguing correlation to get the hairs on my neck to stand up, at least a little.

I have tried to be objective in writing this piece, given the intense emotions that the topic naturally arouses. And this brings me to another aspect.

Whether a belief is true or not is, in these days of narrative warfare, of secondary importance. What matters is how many people believe it and how much emotional energy it arouses in them. The more emotional energy stirred up, the more likely they are to take action based on the belief.

For this reason alone, I think the subject matter is valuable. Who from a remotely religious background wouldn’t be emotionally triggered by the notion that the Antichrist was trying to take over our world? That triggering is another jolt that can take us up out of our armchairs and towards action, direct or otherwise.

The capacity of such ideas to call people to action is another reason that I’m not overly harsh on conspiracy theories or those who push them. I think most are extremely overblown and I have actually written a whole piece on how to spot a conspiracy theory or conspiracy theorist here.

But the reality is that a good conspiracy theory evokes strong emotions, and these are necessary for action to take place and for our world to change. The narratives that we are drawn to attach to more than ever forge the world that is emerging around us. And the Antichrist story can do its part to create a better world.

I thank you again for reading and please feel free to leave comments.