In Search of Antichrist by the Dead Man of Rome

By Doug Drake

In Search of Antichrist, explores the mystery of the Antichrist as an individual. It compares the mystery person to Christ and finds surprising similarities. Much of the text explores the original writings of one of the original disciples of the early Church. Hippolytus of Rome is the Dead Man of Rome who discovered the identity of the Antichrist. Was he correct? Explore it and see. You will be surprised.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Doug Drake
• Release date: May 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386401292

Doug Drake

Doug is the author, writer, and content creator at the Revelation Road Blog. He has served as the Children and Youth Pastor and Christian education/ministry director and teacher at five large and small churches totaling over thirty-five years of service to the Lord and the Church families.

Book preview

The Dead Man of Rome referenced on the cover is/was Hippolytus of Rome.

Who was he?

Hippolytus of Rome

HIPPOLYTUS WAS AN IMPORTANT teacher/writer in the development of Christian eschatology (The study of the Last Days). Among his many works were, On Christ and the Antichrist and Commentary on the Prophet Daniel. In both those works, he took on challenging biblical passages, and consulted the writing and teachings of the early disciples of Christ before coming to his interpretations of these Bible prophecies.

When severe persecutions began to fall upon the Church, many early Christian writers turned to eschatology, as a way to find hope when faced with martyrdom. On Christ and the Antichrist is one of his earliest works. He was greatly influenced by Irenaeus. However, unlike Irenaeus, Hippolytus focused on the meaning of prophecy for the Church during his own time. On Christ and the Antichrist survives in a complete state and was probably written about 202.

Hippolytus adhered to the long-accepted interpretation of Daniel's seventy prophetic weeks as weeks of literal years (490 years). He explained Daniel's parallel prophecies found in chapters 2, 7, and 8, in a similar manner to most modern interpretations. Hippolytus interpreted the four kingdoms as the Babylonians, the Medes and Persians, the Greeks, and last the Romans.

It was his belief that Rome would be...

The dreaded Antichrist would...

That would all end when Christ's Second Coming...

Hippolytus did not...the Second Coming was imminent.

He assumed, like Irenaeus his teacher, that since God made all things in six days, and these days symbolize a thousand years each, in six thousand years from the creation the end would come.

Those last few statements were cut short in order to give you a taste of some of the insights the Dead Man of Rome wrote about A.D. 202.

Introduction to  In Search of  Antichrist

THE MYSTERIOUS MAN called Antichrist struck fear in me the first several times I heard about him. The Exorcist movie was in the theatres around that time and I was foolish enough to watch it on the big screen. Since I was scared of the Antichrist before then, I was terrified after watching that sickening girl’s head spin around on her neck, spewing vomit, and cursing those ill-equipped priests who were in over their heads against the forces of darkness.

Yes, I was afraid, but so were a lot of us.

When I first heard about the Antichrist I was a young Christian attending Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa California. The Pastor, Chuck Smith, was an older man who had a strong appeal to the growing masses of young believers who were attending his church. I liked his teaching style as did a lot of us teens and young adults. Every week the church was full of young people like me who flocked to the church.

Pastor Chuck, as he liked to be called, had an ever-present bright smile and a round balding head. He was like a lovable Charlie Brown but with a constant smile, warm personality, and a love for teaching the Bible to young learners. Going to Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa back then, was for many young people, a can’t-miss weekly event.

Pastor Chuck loved to teach, and many of his eager students, like me, were growing quickly in the grace and knowledge of God and learning how to love strangers as much as ourselves. He taught through the Bible every week. He didn’t read a few verses and then tell funny stories. He read the scriptures and expounded upon the meaning.

Pastor Chuck loved to teach Bible prophecy

One of his favorite topics was eschatology. That’s the study of end times events as described in the Bible. He taught it every time it came up when he was going through the Word. It came up a lot, so I tried to get into the church as often as I could. The way he taught the subject fascinated and captured the attention of myself and so many others.

I had sandy brown, uncombed hair that sometimes laid on my shoulders. Haircuts and combs were rarely-used options for young men back then. Oh how I miss those days of flowing locks of golden sun-lightened hair. I’m starting to look like a greying Charlie Brown myself. Many of us came straight from the Southern California beaches to attend evening services. Great music from live worship bands got us started. When Pastor Chuck was teaching Bible prophecy, the place was always standing-room only, with many seated on the floor in front of the altar.

Jesus loves you!

This was during the height of the Jesus Movement back in the late 60’s and most of the 70’s. We drove VW bugs or surfing vans and adorned our cars, if we had them, with Jesus-loves-you stickers. We stayed long after the services were over and learned about the early Apostles of Christ. They were just ordinary fishermen who sat at the feet of Jesus and grabbed a hold of every word spoken by their Savior.

That atmosphere of young eager disciples, all packing into a huge room to learn from a wise and kind older gentlemen, was intoxicating but in a good way. Drugs were a scourge back then as they are today, but many of us never touched drugs because Jesus was the only drug we needed. That’s what many among us said anyway.

When the subject of the Antichrist came up during those church settings the tension rose in the room. Pastor Chuck didn’t purposely try to scare anyone, it was just the subject matter. It was presented to us that some man was going to come onto the world scene then lie or scheme his way into taking over the world. He would start out as a smooth-talking, good-looking, but little-known politician. He would come out of Europe and eventually take over the world. Pastor Chuck would often say, He’s probably alive today, he just hasn’t been revealed yet.

Once he was revealed, everything would change. Demons and devils would be everywhere. It wouldn’t be long before all of our