In Defense of the Faith

Who Are the “Saints” Whom Antichrist Kills?

Question: Revelation:13:7And 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.
See All... says that Antichrist is given authority (and it could only come from God) “to make war with the saints and to overcome them….” Doesn’t this prove that the church faces Antichrist and gets through the tribulation? If not, who are the saints whom Antichrist kills?

Response:  Christ promised that the “gates of hell shall not prevail against” the church (Matthew:16:18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
See All...). Surely hell would have prevailed if the Antichrist, who is backed and empowered by Satan (Revelation:13:2And 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: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
See All...,4), could “make war with the saints and overcome them.” Furthermore, this fact would mean that a post-trib rapture would be practically a non-event because there would be almost no Christians left alive to rapture. Yet one is given the impression that multitudes are “alive and remain” to be “caught up together” with the dead who have been raised (1 Thessalonians:4:17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
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Here then is another reason for concluding that during the tribulation the church is already in heaven in resurrected and/or glorified bodies like Christ’s own body. The gospel, however, is still being preached on earth by the two witnesses in the streets of Jerusalem for 3 ½ years (Revelation:11:3And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
See All...) (seen no doubt on worldwide news broadcasts every evening) and by the 144,000 Jewish evangelists (Revelation:7:3Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
See All...,4) as well as by many others. Souls are being saved through the preaching of the gospel.

Those who have heard the gospel and rejected it prior to the rapture have no chance to be saved. Instead, they are given a “strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth” (2 Thessalonians:2:11And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
See All...,12). Multitudes, however, who never heard and rejected the gospel are being saved and are paying for their faith with their lives. The Antichrist kills all who do not bow down to worship him as God: “He had power…to cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed” (Revelation:13:15And 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.
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