Are you old enough to remember when Christians thought that Mikhail Gorbachev was the antichrist? After all, he was the whiz kid who came out of nowhere and was shaking the Soviet Union. Perhaps he also aspired to take over the world? And then he had that mark on his forehead. Some said it looked like a dragon! Could he be the man?

Now that he is deceased, we can officially take his name off the list of potential antichrist figures. But you can rest assured that he will hardly be the last one on the list. Not by a long shot.

As for Gorbachev, a search for “books on Gorbachev as the antichrist” yields titles like Gorbachev! Has the Real Antichrist Come? (written by Robert Faid in 1988) and Mikhail Gorbachev Is Gog and Magog, the Biblical Antichrist (written by Randolph Wright in 2010).

A Birthmark and the Numbers of Letters in a Name

A blurb to Wright’s book states (and note carefully that this book was published in 2010), “This book outlines prophecies that Gorbachev has fulfilled according to biblical scriptures. In the author’s view he has fulfilled more than ten prophecies related to the antichrist. Did Gorbachev plan the coup de tat in 1991 in order to fulfill biblical prophecies? A coming showdown between Russia/Iran vs. America/Israel that will lead to WWIII. The Gorbachev/Osama Bin Laden connection. Proof that we are living in the final days before the second coming of Jesus Christ.”

As for that ominous birthmark, Robert Faid wrote, “When I look at the top of Gorbachev’s head, I see a red dragon and over the right eye, there’s a tail that hangs, representing stars.” Yes, “If Gorbachev is truly the Antichrist, Satan branded him in his mother’s womb.”

There you have it. Case closed.

I still remember a Christian woman telling me in the 1980s, with all seriousness, that President Reagan was the antichrist. Her proof? There were 6 letters in each of his names. Ronald. Wilson. Reagan. How striking! The number of the beast/antichrist! 666. How could anyone argue with that?

The More Recent Accusations

More recently, I’ve seen articles (whether serious or not) with titles like, “Biden Is the Antichrist, Wounded in His/Its Head” and “Yes, Donald Trump Is the Antichrist.”

Or, if you need a more in-depth approach, you’ll want to watch this 70-minute video titled, “45 Biblical Reasons Proving Donald J. Trump is the Antichrist.” Sounds pretty definitive to me.

As for Barack Obama being the antichrist, that was a given. Yes, “The Bible Code Definitively Proves Obama Is The Antichrist!” In fact, a Google search of “Obama is the antichrist” yields a remarkable 10,900,000,000. I kid you not. A similar search for Trump yields 10,600,000,000 results. But the same search for Biden yields 11,400,000,000 results. It looks like we are on to something here!

To be candid, these search results seemed so bizarre to me that I searched for “Michael Brown is the antichrist” just to see what happened.

To my relief, the search yielded no results. Not a one. Take me off your list!

Popular Suggestions Over the Years

Writing for the Gospel Coalition in 2012, Joe Carter discussed, “The 7 Most Popular Contenders for the Title ‘Antichrist.’” In order, they were: 1) The Pope; 2) Nicolae Jetty Carpathia (the fictional character in the Left Behind series; 3) Nero Caesar (he certainly was an antichrist type figure for his day); 4) Hitler (the same could be said of him); 5) Henry Kissinger and Mikhail Gorbachev (Carter has them tied for fifth); 6) Napoleon; 7) the American president (confirmed by my recent Google searches!).

Regarding the Pope, Carter explained, “The all-time most popular contender for the title of Antichrist was not any individual but an office — the Roman Catholic Papacy. Martin Luther, John Calvin, Cotton Mather, William Tyndale, and a long list of other Protestants have considered the office of the papacy to be the Antichrist. But that has not stopped some Protestants from assuming that a particular Pope — from Pope Leo X to Pope Benedict XVI — is the Antichrist.”

And so the story continues.

Does the Bible indicate that there will be an end-time, antichrist figure, a one-world ruler who will proclaim himself to be God and will ruthlessly persecute those who refuse to bow down to him? I believe it does.

John Writes of Many Antichrists and the Antichrist

But the Bible also says this: “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.” (1 John 2:18)

On the one hand, John is telling us that, throughout history, there will be many who will be “anti-Christ,” meaning people who actively oppose Jesus and the gospel. John is also affirming the fact that the antichrist is still to come.

On the other hand, writing over 1900 years ago, John could still refer to his day as the “last hour,” meaning that there is a mysterious element to prophecy and that our description of time may not be God’s description. Let’s be cautious in our declarations of exactly what the future holds.

For now, we can expect opposition from those who are “anti-Christ,” whatever religious or non-religious garb they may wear. That is common through the ages.

And should we live to see the antichrist, we won’t need to speculate as to his identity. He will make himself perfectly clear.

Dr. Michael Brown (www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program. His latest book is Revival Or We Die: A Great Awakening Is Our Only Hope. Connect with him on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.