Who is an Anti-Christ? - Alma 25-30

This week in the Book of Mormon we’ll look at chapters 25 to 30 in Alma, but focus on chapter 30.  The only place the word “Anti-Christ” appears in the Book of Mormon is here in chapter 30 of Alma.  A man named Korihor comes amongst the people of Zarahemla and preaches that there is no Christ/Messiah.  So this week we’ll explore the concept of what and who are Anti-Christs.

---

Anti-Christs preach against Yeshua's Redemption
Many Believers think when John refers to the Anti-Christ in first and second John that he is referring to charismatic leaders who oppose Yeshua and set themselves up as a substitute for the Messiah, but here in chapter 30 Korihor does not set himself up as a Messiah to save Humanity.  What Korihor does do is to expand the definition of an Anti-Christ to included anyone that preaches against Yeshua as the Savior of Humanity.


Anti-Christs and the Sons of Perdition
Another concept to understand is that Sons of Perdition are Anti-Christs, but that Anti-Christs are not necessarily Sons of Perdition. Sons of Perdition have a perfect knowledge of God and still reject the Father and the Son.  Those who are Sons of Perdition are unredeemable because they reject the redemption of Messiah. We see this in the examples of Cain and Judas in the scriptures who both had personal contact with Yehovah. While Korihor is called an Anti-Christ here in chapter 30, the record does not indicate that he talked or saw God so he can’t be categorized as a Son of Perdition and can yet repent and accept Messiah/Christ redemption.


The Endtime Anti-Christ is Lawless
Another concept we see in the scriptures that the Endtime Anti-Christ is lawless.  In other words, he is anti-God’s Law and sets up his own imitation world government based on his own law system to save Humanity.  Let’s look at some scriptures here.
 
A Man of Lawlessness
The go-to scripture to establish that the Endtime Anti-Christ is anti-God’s Law is in 2 Thessalonians 2:3.  In verse 3, he is referred to as a “man of sin”.  And since, God’s Law-Word in the Torah defines what sin is, the Endtime Anti-Christ is a “man of anti-God’s Law”, a “man of lawlessness”.  Some translations of the Bible use the word "lawlessness" here instead of the word "sin".
 
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of ​sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
 
The Mark of the Beast
Another way to look at this is to consider the false law system erected by the Endtime Anti-Christ, which is indicated by the mark of the Beast. We can make that connection between God commanding Israel to bind the Law to their head and hand as a sign or mark at Deu 6:8 with those who take the mark of the Beast on their head and hand at Rev. 13:16.  Moreover, the Endtime Anti-Christ Law System will be linked to the power to buy and sell.  Moreover, any law system that is does not support God's Law-Word in the Bible is a man-made and false law system.

LAW SYSTEMS

God's Law System	<  >	Anti-Christ's Law System
​Deu 6:5-8   And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as ​frontlets between thine eyes.	Marks or Signs in hand and head are connected to a law system.	​Rev. 13:16,17   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.

Orthodox Jews have taken this literally and bound these verses  in Deu. 6 to their forehead and hand.

So another way to look at this is those who accept the Endtime Anti-Christ’s law system are essentially Anti-Christs themselves.


Endtime Apostasy from the Law
Another concept that we see in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 is that Paul is drawing a connection between an Endtime apostasy and the lawlessness of the Anti-Christ. Not only can we link this apostasy to the depravity of Humanity at the end of the world, but we can link it to a rejection of the principles of Biblical liberty found in the covenant that America made with God, and which is a theme found in the Book of Mormon.  Furthermore, the prophet Isaiah sees this coorelation between a rejection of God's Law with America and Israel's ancient rejection.  Dr. Gileadi,

​Believers in the scriptures understand that the world will be destroyed and cleansed of the wicked before Jehovah’s coming to reign on the earth. But do they know what precipitates such destruction? Patterns from the past tell us what to look for that will signal the commencement of God’s end-time judgments. Paul draws on the prophecies of Isaiah when he says that those events won’t happen until “there comes a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the Son of Perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Isaiah uses models or types from ancient Near Eastern history and mythology to describe this end-time Antichrist as the “king of Babylon” (Isaiah 14:3–21).
​
Isaiah also makes clear that it is the “falling away” of God’s people that precipitates the world’s destruction by the king of Assyria/Babylon. (Assyrian conquerors of Babylon in Isaiah’s day called themselves “King of Babylon.”) Former destructions of the ancient world—first by Assyria and then by Babylon--occurred only when God’s people of the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel had apostatized. Those who profess to be God’s people today, therefore, fall into this pattern before God’s end-time judgments commence. If it were not so, the archtyrant could have no power. He is merely God’s instrument for destroying the wicked from the earth.