Attention non-Christians: there’s a special bit just for you below, please read.
Part One: Antichrist
The Bible refers to “antichrist” in three different ways. I’m going to talk about one of them. Here are the two I’m NOT going to talk about: The Anti Christ at the end of times, and specific people who have been models of antichrist in the past.
What I’m going to talk about is the “spirit of antichrist” found in 1 John 2 and 4.
The spirit of antichrist is an attitude, a lifestyle. Jesus exhibited love, compassion, understanding, grace, peace, etc. The spirit of antichrist is literally the opposite. Hate, indifference, etc.
Part Two: Donald Trump
As Donald Trump rose to power I began to see him do more and more things that Jesus would never do. I began thinking through everything I’ve seen Trump do on TV. At one point I thought “It’s almost like he’s the opposite of Jesus in every way!” And that’s when it hit me. That’s the definition of antichrist.
Donald Trump exhibits the spirit of antichrist in almost every way. I haven’t seen a way that he does not. I don’t say it IS every way, because he lives a lot of his life off camera. What do I know, maybe he’s a nice guy when he’s alone.
Part Three: I don’t believe in Jesus, why do I care?
Several reasons. The first is easy. Tell any Trump loving Christian that Trump is the antichrist and watch them turn purple. Fun for the whole family!
The second reason is more complicated, but more relevant. In the book Cryptonomicon, the character Enoch Root (a retired Catholic priest) explains the spirit of Athena to Randy Waterhouse (while they’re in prison together). You can read the interchange here. Enoch’s point is that regardless if whether a spiritual being named Athena ever existed, her attributes have in the past and still to this day exist in people. A strong interest in war and technology let’s say. Except Athena’s war weapon is a shield.
Ares is the actual god of war, and his war weapon is a sword. So if you look at two military people today, you could say one exhibits the spirit of Athena (defend the poor) whilst the other exhibits the spirit of Ares (nuke’em!)
But back to Jesus. I would suggest that even people who don’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God would accept that he was a Good Person, or maybe not have existed, and in a literature sense, perhaps the best person ever.
Compare that Jesus to Donald Trump if you will.
Part Four: But Jesus Was Perfect!
I can already hear the whataboutism roaring from the back. What about Biden? He’s no Jesus. What about Harris? Clinton? Reagan? Everyone everywhere ever?
You’re right, none of us is Jesus, nor could come close to being as perfect as He.
That said, MOST people I’ve known in my life at least TRY to be Good. I have yet to see Trump try to be Good in any way. I’ve seen him do good actions, but they were always blatantly in his self interest, and if they had not, he would not have done them.
And this is why I say Trump exhibits the spirit of antichrist, and I can’t support him and look Jesus in the eye when I pray.
Interesting take on the Athena/Ares mythos. I always thought of Athena as the cool, strategic aspect of combat/victory situations and Ares as the heated firepower/brutality aspect. But defence is an important part of both war as well as safety. Safe spaces must be protected spaces and healthy living needs firm (but flexible & evolving) boundaries. This is a great addition to my head canon so thank you.
I cannot think of Trump as being a nice guy when he’s alone because he is a very public figure and what he says/does in the public eye impacts hundreds (maybe more) of lives. It’s impossible to disconnect who he is in private from who he is being in public. I also can’t imagine Jesus would ever speak of women, especially those related or close to him the way Trump does so that’s one more point in favour of your idea.
Agree. The spirit of antichrist. So many lies. So so many. And then so many insults. Then, also the rambling.
Very insightful . Always been weary of labeling someone an antichrist because it feels super harsh, but I think you’re correct.
You said, “[Trump’s good actions] were always blatantly in his self interest”. Which is what I’m seeing as well. Trump cares only about himself while Christ gave himself.
That’s an excellent snippet, Christ gave of himself.