It never ceases to amaze me when the very oddest of religious claims make their way into public.
Take Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda, a self proclaimed anti-Christ in this clip from CNN:
Truly mind blowing.
AntiChrist in the New Testament is just that antichristos. It means the opposite of Christ. There is no evidence in all of Hellenistic writings that anti means new. It means opposite. 1 John 2:17-19 says:
"The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us." (NIV)
In Scriptural context, the antiChrist is a spirit of lies that denies the Divinity of Jesus Christ. later on in 1 John 2, the Apostle writes:
"Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also." 1 John 2:22-23
Jesus Christ did say He will return in the clouds, Matthew 26:63-64 says:
"But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.""Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."' (NIV)
Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda may not be THE antiChrist, but from his own words he certainly seems to have the spirit of the antichrist. Not a new and improved Jesus, just the old and wanting spirit of deception that gorges itself on the ignorance of others.
I pray there is a happy ending to the story of him and his followers. But History of such cultic leaders of deception often proves otherwise...