John of the Cleft Rock (1340)

a. "Man will often think he recognizes this or that in an individual indicating that he is Antichrist, since the persecutors of the Lamb are all similar. All evil doers of importance are precursors of Antichrist.

b. "This Prince of Liars will swear by the Bible and pose as the arm of the Almighty, chastising a corrupt age.

c. "He will be a one-armed man with innumerable soldiers resembling the legions of Hell whose motto will be: 'God with us/ (In World War I this was said to refer to the Kaiser)

d. "In the beginning he will work by cunning and crime. His spies will infest the whole world and he will become master of the secrets of the mighty. He will pay theologians to show that his mission is from God.

e. "A war will give him the opportunity to assume his true role — this war will not be the one he will wage against a French sovereign (Great Monarch?) but one which will within a fortnight involve the whole world and will be easily recognized by his mark, (on his followers ?)

f. "The Angels will enlighten men and in the third week they will wonder if this is truly the Antichrist, and realizing that it is, they will either have to fight to overthrow him or become his slaves.

g. "Antichrist will be recognized by various tokens: in especial he will massacre the priests, the monks, the women, the children, and the aged. He will show no mercy, but will pass torch in hand, like the barbarians, yet invoking Christ ! His words of imposture will resemble those of Christians, but his actions will be those of Nero and of the Roman persecutors. He will have an eagle in his coat cf arms as also will his lieutenant, the other wicked ruler — this latter will be a Christian who will die when cursed by the Pope, who will be elected at the beginning of the reign of Antichrist.

h. "Priests and monks will no longer be seen hearing confessions and absolving the combatants: partly because they will be fighting alongside other Christians and partly because the Pope having cursed Antichrist will proclaim that all who fight against him are in the State of Grace and if they die they will go to Heaven as martyrs (1) . The Bull, proclaiming these things will re-inkindle the courage of the faint hearted and will cause the death of the monarch allied with Antichirst. Before Antichrist is overthrown, however, more men will have been killed than were ever within the walls of Rome.

i. "Never will humanity have been faced with such a peril, because the triumph of Antichrist would be that of the demon, who will have taken possession of his personality. For it has been said that, twenty centuries after the Incarnation of the Word, the Beast will be incarnate in his turn, and will menace the earth with as many evils as the Divine Incarnation has brought it graces.

j. "Towards the year 2000 Antichrist will be made manifest. His army will surpass in number anything that can be imagined. There will be Christians among his cohorts, and there will be Mohammedan and heathen soldiers among the defenders of the Lamb.

(1) The part about "State of Grace" is apparently copied or translated wrong.

k. "For the first time the Lamb will be all red. There will not be in the whole Christian world a single spot which is not red ; and red also will be heaven, and earth, and water, and even the air; for blood will flow in the domain of the four elements at once.

"The battles fought up to that time will be as nothing compared with those which will take place in the country of Luther (2) ; for the seven angels will simultaneously pour out the fire of their censers upon the impious land. In other words, the Lamb ordains the extermination of the race of Antichrist.

m. "That which makes the decree of the Lamb so implacable, is that Antichrist has dared to claim to be a Christian and to act in the name of Christ, and if he did not perish, the fruit of the Redemption would be lost, and the gates of Hell would prevail against the Saviour.

n. "Then will commence an era of peace and prosperity for the universe, and there will be no war. Each nation will be governed according to its own heart and live in accordance with justice.

o. "There will be no longer Lutherans (1) or Schismatics. The Lamb will reign and the happiness of humanity will begin. Happy will be those who, escaping the perils of this marvelous time, are able to taste of its fruit. This will be the reign of the Spirit and the sanctification of humanity, which could not come to pass until after the defeat of Antichrist.

p. See also prophesy 104