The Book of Mormon describes the actions and teachings of three anti-Christs: 1) Sherem, 2) Nehor (Alma 1), and 3) Korihor (Alma 30). The inclusion of their actions and teachings are instructive to us because so many of their false doctrines are prevalent today. Robert L. Millet describes the nature of an Anti-Christ:
"President Ezra Taft Benson has instructed that 'the Book of Mormon brings men to Christ through two basic means':
"First, it tells in a plain manner of Christ and His gospel. It testifies of is divinity and of the necessity for a Redeemer and the need of our putting trust in Him. It bears witness of the Fall and the Atonement and the first principles of the gospel, including our need of a broken heart and a contrite spirit and a spiritual rebirth. It proclaims we must endure to the end in righteousness and live the moral life of a Saint.
"Second, the Book of Mormon exposes the enemies of Christ. It confounds false doctrines and lays down contention. (See 2 Nephi 3:12.) It fortifies the humble followers of Christ against the evil designs, strategies, and doctrines of the devil in our day. The type of apostates in the Book of Mormon is similar to the type we have today. God, with his infinite foreknowledge, so molded the Book of Mormon that we might see the error and know how to combat false educational, political, religious, and philosophical concepts of our time (3; emphasis added).
"Jacob ends a lengthy recitation of and a brief commentary on the allegory of Zenos by pleading with his readers to receive and pay heed to the words of the prophets and traverse carefully that gospel path which is strait and narrow. 'Finally,' he concludes, 'I bid you farewell, until I shall meet you before, the pleasing bar of God, which bar striketh the wicked with awful dread and fear' (Jacob 6:13). This would appear to be a farewell statement, an indication to the reader that Jacob had initially planned to close his record at that point. Subsequently, however, he had an experience worthy of inclusion in a record which would come forth to a cynical and highly secular world--his encounter with Sherem the anti-Christ.
Portrait of an Anti-Christ
"There are certain characteristics of an anti-Christ, certain patterns of belief and practice which we might expect to find among those, like Sherem, who are bent upon overthrowing the doctrine of Christ. Some of these are as follows:
1) They Deny the Need for Jesus Christ…(Each characteristic is discussed in detail)
2) They Use Flattery to Win Disciples…
3) They Accuse the Brethren of Teaching False Doctrine…
4) They Have a Limited View of Reality…
5) They Have a Disposition to Misread and Thereby Misrepresent the Scriptures…
6) They are Sign Seekers…"
(Robert L. Millett, Book of Mormon Symposium Series, edited by PR Cheesman, MS Nyman, and CD Tate, Jr., 1988, p. 175-81)