I've heard or read a number of people over the years say that the beast is more of a pseudo-christ,

in place of Christ, rather than an anti-christ.

As a child I learned about matter and antimatter.

(by the way, since supposedly antimatter cancels out matter, does that also mean,

that anti-pasta cancels out pasta, making the combination zero calories?)

I was taught as a young person, that "anti" does not mean the same as "pseudo".

Isn't the beast actually anti, i.e. the antichrist?

Jesus descends, but the antichrist ascends:

I Thessalonians 4:16a For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,

Revelation 11:7b  the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them,

Jesus is a man of sorrows, but the antichrist is the man of sin:

Isaiah 53:3b  a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:

II Thessalonians 2:3c  and that man of sin be revealed

Jesus is the Son of God, but the antichrist is the son of perdition:

Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;

II Thessalonians 2:3d  the son of perdition;

With Jesus is the mystery of godliness, but with the antichrist is the mystery of iniquity:

I Timothy 3:16a And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh,

II Thessalonians 2:7a For the mystery of iniquity doth already work:

Jesus is the Word (with a large W), but the antichrist is that Wicked (also with a large W):

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

II Thessalonians 2:8a And then shall that Wicked be revealed,

Jesus came in his Father's name, but the antichrist comes in his own name:

John 5:43 I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.

Jesus is given all power in heaven and earth, but the antichrist is only given the power of Satan on earth:

Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

II Thessalonians 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

When John beheld, he saw Jesus a Lamb that had been slain, but he saw the antichrist as a grotesque composite of other beasts:

Revelation 5:6b  stood a Lamb as it had been slain,

Revelation 13:2a And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion:

Isn't the beast actually anti, i.e. the antichrist?