(2Thessalonians 2:9; Revelation 13:11-14)
In his Epistles, the apostle John attacked those who said the Spirit of Christ was the spirit of God, making Jesus to be God Himself. John called this “the spirit of the antichrist.”11Jo 4:3
In A.D. 150, Justin Martyr told the Roman Emperor that there was another spirit, a third spirit, called the Spirit of Prophecy who was born on the waters in Genesis 1:2.2First Apology, Chapter 60 Justin said that Him we also “worship and adore.”3First Apology, Chapter 6
In 193, the bishop of Rome who excommunicated the Churches of Asia, said these three spirits were one and the same person.4Against Praxeas, Chapter 2
Tertullian, in his tract, “Against Praxeas,” attacked the bishop for his new doctrine, and letter of “peace” to the Churches of Asia.
Tertullian said, “Praxeas did a twofold service for the devil at Rome: he drove away prophecy, and he brought in heresy; he put to flight the Paraclete, and he crucified the Father.”5Against Praxeas, Chapter 1
In his tract, Tertullian said the three spirits were not one and the same, but they were of “one substance,” which he called “a Trinity.”6Against Praxeas, Chapter 2
In Revelation 13, John described two beasts. The first was like the combination of three animals: a lion, a leopard, and a bear.7Rev 13:2 The second beast had the power to perform great signs. It caused those who dwell on the earth to make an image of the first beast that had the wound of the sword and lived, and it caused the image of the beast to speak and cause as many as would not worship the image to be killed.8Rev 13:11-15
The wound of the sword to the Roman Empire came by the Gothic War of 376 to 382. In 381, the Trinity doctrine was established—the image of a three-animal God. John said, “He even causes fire to come down from heaven in the sight of men.”9Rev 13:13 This referred to the miracle that Elijah performed to prove that Israel’s God was the true God.101Ki 1:12 “Great signs” would cause “all those who dwell on the earth” to worship Tertullian’s Trinity.
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