Here are the primary characteristics of the Antichrist as he rises, assumes and loses power:

1.  He will rise (this does not mean he is born of these ten nations) from a ten nation Islamic alliance.  He will eventually overtake three of the ten leaders including Egypt and Libya.

He will be great in the lands south and east of Israel, right up to the very borders of Israel.  Initially this will consist of the territory of ancient Babylon.  This includes Iraq and Northern Saudi Arabia.

Eventually it will include all of the Islamic nations of the Middle East.  He will sit atop a revived Babylonian Empire that will consist first of territories of Alexander the Great – then all of Europe and the west will fall.

Then the world shall fall to him and the forces of Islam.

2.  He will be a leader of bold action and shall comprehend the nature of the most daunting problems and mysteries that stand before him.  He will possess an acumen that is second to none.  His intellect will be reminiscent of Adolph Hitler in the early years of his rise to power and initial conquest of Europe. 

He shall destroy many men of war and many saints of God.

His war of conquest shall begin without warning.  This includes the manipulations and devious designs that occur behind the scenes as he secretly moves the world to war.  He shall ride to the rescue of the world from a war that he alone bears full responsibility.

3.  He shall flatter and conjure his way into the power he seeks.  He will not be of royal birth nor hold station in the lands he seeks to rule, yet he will be acceptable to the lands that fall to him, the lands of Islam.

He will, however, already hold a station upon the world’s stage that opens the door to his secret designs.

He will be a contemptible man.

His initial rise to power is built upon lies.  He does not come “seeking power” – rather he will come to serve.  His power shall be bestowed upon him by the leaders of the Islamic world.

He shall promise Islam all it desires.  After he manipulates the armies of an Islamic coalition into the failed war of Gog / Magog from behind closed doors he will secretly promise that which they desire most – Jerusalem.

From the very outset he shall deal lies at every turn.

4.  He gains his power at the hands of radical Muslims – at the hands of the smallest collection of supporters.  Yet they shall seize the reigns of all Islam.

5.  His heart shall know no bounds to its desires.  He shall engage in every activity that his mind conjures.

6.  He shall raise himself above all the gods of this world.

He shall raise himself above the God of gods and sit upon a throne in the Temple.

He shall honor a “new” god – a god that did not exist in the times of the Bible.  It shall be a god of war and violence.  It shall be a god foreign to Israel at the writing of the Bible.

It is a god with little regard for women.

It is a god for which the Antichrist will abandon the God of his “homeland” – the God of his “given” heritage.

Yet it is a god for which Israel is now all too well acquainted.  It is Allah.

7.  He shall conquer in the name of Allah and by the sword of Islam.  Yet, the day will come that he shall declare himself as Allah incarnate.

He shall set himself above the Most High God.

He will become the loathed branch, the false god of an apostate church, an apostate world, serving an apostate religion.

So concludes the core characteristics of the Antichrist.

 

Scriptural references for the core characteristics of the Antichrist:

Daniel 2:31-45; 7:23-26; 8:9-13; 8:23-25; 9:26-27; 11:21-45.

2 Thessalonians 2:4

Isaiah 14:24-26

Zechariah 1:18-21

Matthew 24:15

Mark 13:9-14

1 Thessalonians 5:3

2 Thessalonians 2:3-9

Revelation 13:1-10; 17:6-13; 16-17