I have made the statement that I feel that Antichrist will be the means in which the final members of the Bride of Christ finish their course, are put to death in the flesh and changed in the twinkling of an eye to be with the Lord.
I do not believe in the traditional rapture theory, but do believe the last members will be put to death at the same time. There will be no last member of the body of Christ. This I think is shown in the Wise Virgins, Wheat, Gideon, Elijah and Jesus’ last week and other types of the completion of the Church.
I was asked to back up my belief that the Antichrist will kill off the Church in the end.
I will start with some scriptures before I get into different types in scripture.
Daniel sets the stage for the understanding of the Beast of Revelation whose goal is the destruction of the saints.
Dan 7:25-27
25 And he will say words against the Most High, attempting to put an end to the saints of the Most High; and he will have the idea of changing times and law; and the saints will be given into his hands for a time and times and half a time.
26 But the judge will be seated, and they will put an end to his authority, to overcome it and send complete destruction on it.
27 And the kingdom and the authority and the power of the kingdoms under all the heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Most High: his kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and all powers will be his servants and do his pleasure.
Rev 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
We see the goal of the Papal beast is to kill the true church—this goal has never changed, they have just been unable to act upon it—until the hour of power yet future.
Consider the next verses in Revelation.
Rev 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Rev 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
- The Image of the first beast has to be made and vitalized. This image of the Papal beast is a killing machine and it is very important to correctly identify it. I will just say I believe it to be the Ordinariate and not the Ecumenical Movement.
- It will kill those who do worship the image of the beast—by either taking the name, number or mark of the Papal beast.
So, who is it that will not take this mark, name or number? Who will risk certain death for not taking it? I believe this event is what binds the tares and leaves the wheat in the field of the parable of the Wheat and Tares.
When we look at various types starting with our Lord’s last experiences we see he was put to death by a civil power reluctantly, but behind it was the religious element. Jesus is a picture of the death of the final members of the Church.
Look at John the Baptist—It was Herodias who worked behind the scenes to get Herod to murder John.
Look at Daniel—it was because he worshipped Jehovah when it was forbidden that he was thrown reluctantly by Darius into the lion’s den. We see it was over religion and worship that his enemies connived.
The Three Hebrews were thrown into the fiery furnace because they would not bow to the image.
At Belshazzar’s feast, Daniel was given a change of garments and a gold medallion (symbolic of the Church’s change into glory) because he gave the King the message of Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin. We also see the use of the temple objects in that feast.
The Smiting of the Image upon the feet (which pictures Papal Rome) –and that is when the rock (The Complete Christ) is cut out.
There will be variance in the experiences of the Final Members, depending on where they live, for example communistic countries, but we see the pattern of a reluctant civil power putting to death the saints at the behest of a religious element.