Antichrist and Beast

Eschatology (one's end times belief) gets a bit muddled when one interprets the Antichrist and the Beast solely as lone figures at the last 50 years of the world as we know it. In fact, the church in focusing solely on these infamous iconic figures and structures as a one-time reality, the church falls prey to the antichrist and beast itself. Is not several antichrists and several beasts more biblically accurate? We look for just the Antichrist rather then antichrists and the Beast rather then beasts. Pastor Douglas Wilson makes great points on this subject in a recent blog post:

"So what is the sin of being an antichrist. Through long-standing misunderstandings about eschatology, the definition of this sin has gotten almost completely distorted. A common understanding is to see The Antichrist and The Beast as the same character out of poorly written end times novels. But this is not the case at all. In Scripture, a beast is a civil ruler, persecuting the Church. An antichrist is a false teacher from within, one infected with all the latest ideational leprosy. For a beast, think Stalin, Hitler, Nero. For an antichrist, think of a mild, soften-spoken Anglican bishop -- one who denies that Jesus was God enfleshed." (HT: Douglas Wilson)