Who will be the first to acclaim the Antichrist as God of this world?

Les explains that Scripture has one recurring lie: Satan tells a person, “You can be God.” He says they are going to believe it again. The people in view are those who heard the gospel, rejected it, and had nothing to do with it. As soon as the Antichrist signs the treaty with Israel, these will be the very first people to acclaim him as the God of this world, the one they have been looking for. Verse 12 adds that they are condemned because they believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Les also connects this to Ephesians 1, noting that when the Antichrist appears and the church has been removed, one group will not have the opportunity of salvation from the message of the 144,000. These who heard, contemplated, understood, and rejected the gospel will immediately be blinded and immediately embrace the man Antichrist.