Who is the antichrist?  According to the dictionary, the term antichrist can mean:

1) a false Christ,
2) an enemy of Christ,
3) a disbeliever of Christ,
4) a great antagonist who will set himself up against Christ in the last days before the Second Coming.

That’s what the dictionary says.  But what does the Bible say about the term “antichrist”? There are only four verses in the whole Bible that mention the term antichrist and they are all found in 1st and 2nd John.

1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.

1 John 2:22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.

1 John 4:3  and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

2 John 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

From these Scriptures we are told:

1) Many deceivers and antichrists have already come, not just one.
2) Whoever denies the Father and the Son or does not believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh is a deceiver and an antichrist.

Before we go any further, we need to be clear by what we understand by the expression, “Jesus Christ came in the flesh”.  The expression, “Jesus Christ came in the flesh” means that Jesus Christ (who is God) became flesh (that is became human).  When Jesus Christ came in the flesh, He divested himself of His divinity and became a human.  He didn’t “possess” a human body and live vicariously through it.  He actually became a human being. 

John 1:14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, …

When Jesus Christ died that excruciatingly painful death on the cross, He ceased to exist.  He ceased to exist as all humans cease to exist on their death.  At that point in time, there was only one God being alive – the Father.  That’s what it means to believe that “Jesus Christ came in the flesh”.

By implication, to believe that “Jesus Christ came in the flesh”, means to believe that when Christ died, He ceased to exist for those three days and three nights He was in the grave.

This is a very important point.

What do the Catholics believe regarding the nature of God?

The Catholics believe that God is a trinity.  Here is what they say from their catechisms.  (A catechism is a statement of belief.)

We firmly believe and confess without reservation that there is only one true God, … the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; three persons indeed, but one essence, substance or nature entirely simple.

The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons.

The important point to note with the trinity doctrine is that Jesus Christ cannot have died (that is ceased to exist) without the Father and Holy Spirit ceasing to exist too, because with the trinity doctrine there is just one God being.

What do the Catholics believe regarding the nature of man?

The Catholics believe that man has an immortal soul.  Here is what they say from their catechisms.

The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God – it is not “produced” by the parents – and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.

With this doctrine, when Jesus Christ died on the cross, only His body perished, His soul lived on. In fact, concerning Christ’s time in the grave the Catholics teach:

This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ’s descent into hell [grave]: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.

The Catholics believe that when Christ died, his immortal soul lived on, and for those three days and nights Christ was in the grave, He was preaching to the wicked spirits.

So, we see quite clearly, that the Catholics, because of their beliefs in the trinity and the immortal soul, do not believe that Christ ceased to exist for three days and nights when he was in the grave.  They don’t believe that “Jesus Christ came in the flesh” in the way Scripture teaches. 

The Bible says such are deceivers and antichrists.  (Many Catholics are very sincere, caring and loving.  But the Bible is clear that the teachings to which they hold are wrong.)

If you ask them: “Do you confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh?” they will say, “Yes”. But, if you ask them instead: “Do you believe that Christ ceased to exist for three days and nights when he was in the grave?” they will say, “No”, as we have seen from their beliefs.

What about the Seventh Day Adventists?  What do they believe concerning the nature of God and the nature of man?

The Seventh Day Adventists believe in the trinity, but they believe in death a person ceases to exist.  The Seventh Day Adventists recognised the problem their belief in the trinity caused.  According to Ellen White (who was an instrumental figure among the Adventists):

… when Jesus died on the cross, “Deity did not die. Humanity died“. Again she wrote, “Humanity died: divinity did not die” (SDA Bible Commentary).

In other words, Christ the man died, but Christ the God did not die.  As mentioned earlier concerning the trinity doctrine, if Jesus Christ died (that is ceased to exist) then the Father and Holy Spirit ceased to exist too, because with the trinity doctrine there is just one God being.  Of course, this is impossible, so they are forced to make the statement, “When Jesus died on the cross, ‘Deity did not die. Humanity died’”.

So, we see quite clearly that the Seventh Day Adventists, because of their belief in the trinity, do not believe that Christ ceased to exist for three days and nights when he was in the grave.  They don’t believe that “Jesus Christ came in the flesh” in the way Scripture teaches.

The Bible says such are deceivers and antichrists.  (Many Seventh Day Adventists are very sincere, caring and loving.  But the Bible is clear that the teachings to which they hold are wrong.)

Those who believe in the doctrine of the trinity or the doctrine of the immortal soul do not believe that Christ ceased to exist for three days and nights when he was in the grave.  They don’t believe that “Jesus Christ came in the flesh” in the way the Bible teaches.

The Bible says such are deceivers and antichrists.