Trump is not the Antichrist

But he is certainly *an* antichrist. They are a dime a dozen according to St. John: liars who tell us they will make everything All Right if we will just bail on listening to Jesus and the Church and do whatever evils they command instead. And there are always false prophets ready to deceive the faithful. The pattern is always the same:

The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¶ Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Th 2:9–12).

That “strong delusion” bit does not mean God is a liar. It means that God lets us lie to ourselves when we insist on it. As C.S. Lewis observes, “The trouble with trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you can often succeed.” And so, here are some cracker barrel Isaiahs to herald the coming of the latest transparently phony messiah for the delectation of people bound and determined to be stupider than they really are:

It’s always possible to just reject all this transparent falsehood, repent, believe in the Lord Jesus and his Holy Church, and be saved. But you have to *do* it.