Exploring Prophetic Mysteries
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Early Church Leaders: Antichrist will Persecute the Church
The fact that the Church will be here during the Tribulation was taught by many of
the earliest Christian scholars and is well documented, contrary to what many pre-
This list is from:
http://finalinstructions-
Warning From Voices of the Past by Jim Sayles
Justin Martyr (A.D. 100-
Two advents of Christ have been announced: the one, in which He is set forth as suffering, inglorious, dishonored, and crucified; but the other, in which He shall come from heaven with glory, when the man of apostasy, who speaks strange things against the Most High, shall venture to do unlawful deeds on the earth against us the Christians. (First Apology of Justine, Chapter 110)
Irenaeus (A.D. 140-
And then he...(Daniel)...points out the time that his tyranny shall last, during which the saints shall be put to flight. (Against Heresies V, XXVL, 1) And they shall lay Babylon waste, and burn her with fire, and shall give their kingdom to the beast, and put the church to flight. (Against Heresies V, XXVI)
Tertulian (A.D. 160-
That the beast Antichrist, with his false prophet, may wage war on the Church of God. (On the Resurrection of the Flesh, 25)
Cyprian (A.D. 200-
For you ought to know and to believe, and hold it for certain, that the day of affliction has begun to hang over our heads, and the end of the world and the time of Antichrist to draw near, so that we must all stand prepared for the battle...(Epistles of Cyprian, LV, 1, 2)
Nor let any one of you, beloved brethren, be so terrified by the fear of future persecution, or the coming of the threatening Antichrist, as not to be found armed for all things by the evangelical exhortations and precepts, and by the heavenly warnings. (Cyprian, LIII, p.722)
Hippolytus (A.D. 160-
...the one thousand two hundred and three score days (the half of the week) during which the tyrant is to reign and persecute the Church... (Treatise on Christ and Antichrist, 61)
Victorinus of Poetovia (? -
The little season signifies three years and six months, in which with all his power
the devil will avenge himself under Antichrist against the Church. (Commentary on
the Apocalypse, 20:1-
Augustine (A.D. 354-
...the kingdom of Antichrist shall fiercely, though for a short time, assail the Church... (The City of God, XX, 23)
Roger Bacon (A.D. 1214-
...future perils [for the Church] in the times of Antichrist... (Opus Majus II, page 634)
Martin Luther (A.D. 1483-
[The book of Revelation] is intended as a revelation of things that are to happen in the future, and especially of tribulations and disasters for the Church... (Works of Martin Luther, VI, p. 481)
John Knox (A.D. 1515-
[T]he great love of God towards his Church, whom he pleased to forewarne of dangers to come...to wit, The man of sin, The Antichrist...(The Historie of the Reformation etc., I, p.76)
Roger Williams (A.D. 1603-
Antichrist...hath his prisons, to keep Christ Jesus and his members fast. (The Bloody Tenent etc, p. 153)
Charles Hodge (A.D. 1797-
...the fate of his Church here on earth...is the burden of the Apocalypse. (Systematic Theology, III, p. 827)
Carl F. Keil (A.D. 1807-
...the persecution of the last enemy Antichrist against the Church of the Lord...(Biblical Commentary, YXMV, p. 503)
Only one mention of a pre-
There is but one reference to a pre-
“For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that
is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm
the world because of our sins.” On the Last Times 2 -
After this there is no other clear mention of a pre-
An elaborate invention by a clever lawyer
Every person who believes that Jesus Christ will return invisibly and that the Church
will be gathered up before the Tribulation can trace their belief back to one single
individual: John Nelson Darby. Darby was a nineteenth century lawyer, preacher and
self-
The pre-
The pre-
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© Daniel Speck 9.7.16