The End-Times by the Ancient Church Fathers

This has some good information in it, but beware! The author, in this book and in another one of his that I got, injects his own ideas in places that are supposedly "quotes" from the early church fathers. For example, towards the beginning of this book, in a section entitled "Irenaeus' End-Time Teaching", subtitled "The Ten Nations", he says that Irenaeus says that "ten kings will arise from what used to be the Roman Empire". He does not put this into quotes, however he injects the Romans thing which Irenaeus never says. That is his own supposition that the 4th kingdom will be Rome. There is some doubt by other scholars that this is correct. Whether it is or not, he should not be stating things as though they are fact and they were said by the person that he was supposed to be quoting. As I said, he does this many times. You need to look at these so called quotes for yourselves to verify them. You can find them, at least most of them, on the earlychristianwritings.com website. Just wanted to warn you not to take everything he says in his books as truth.

eg he titles this The Resurrection"Moreover, concerning the resurrection and the kingdom of the saints, Daniel says, ..."but this later statement by the same church father he gives title of Rapture"Concerning the resurrection of the righteous, Paul also speaks thus..."The resurrection and the rapture are not the same events: even dispensationalists hold this view. The church father he's quoting here clearly states he thinks the verse of Paul's refers to the resurrection, just like Daniel's, but dispensationalism has this as a proof text for the rapture so he (Ken Johnson ) ignores the words of the very man he's quoting in titling this section and titles it according to what he thinks the verse refers to. One has to be careful of the often subtle bias he injects into his books.

I am somewhat disappointed by this book. The cover proclaims that St. Irenaeus was "Protestant." While this early Father may have held some positions that the author finds in keeping with his own--albeit with some serious stretches of his imagination to get there,--St Irenaeus was a Catholic saint who lived prior to the Catholic/Orthodox split. While either of those churches could proudly claim St. Irenaeus as thir own, there is no way that St. Irenaeus could be said to be a Protestant of any denomination. Seeing that notation on the cover told me where this book was going. I will read and use what information in the book that can be confirmed in other sources, but the author lost me at "hello" by making such a serious misrepresentation.

I love Dr. Johnson's research and enjoy his teaching. I was a little disappointed that his book seems to have less in-depth information than his video lectures do. But, its still a useful tool to have in your resource library for the serious bible student. I know of no one else that has compiled the teachings of the early church fathers this well. This book could help put to rest a lot of denominational doctrinal controversy, if we go back and look at what the disciples of the apostles taught and compare it with scripture.

Ken's books are always a joy to read. They are written in clear language, making them easy to understand. Some other reviewers may find issues with interpretations. That's understandable. If you see the books as reference / starting points, the books will serve you well since Ken does a good job saying who said what and giving you references. The writings of the early Church fathers are very extensive and Ken's work helps trim down where you need to look.Disclosure: I've yet to finish reading this one that I just got today, but I was able to get through about half in one sitting. Very interesting read!

Very encouraging to know the first-century and following years exhibited a correct theology about end-times prophecies. As corrupted theology subsequently crept into the Church, sound beliefs of the founding church Fathers were often ignored. It is refreshing to be reminded of the original principles espoused by the ancient church Fathers, particularly about prophecies on the departure of the Church prior to the end-time 7-year Tribulation period.

This book is an interesting read in that, it gives better insight to the end-times better than anyone in this present day with all their charts. The author seems to add some rapture theory and saying that Hippolytus may have been confused (which I think an insult) about the rapture. These men wrote from the scriptures as they read them, not adding some supposed theories about them. I gave this work four stars and not five because of the suppositions of the author, yet I am glad it was published so we can get an idea of what the people of the Church thought back in those days! Worth the read.

One of this author's better books. Many of the early Church Fathers taught the end times pretty much like premillenial dispensationists believing in a pre tribulation rapture a 7 year tribulation period and a thousand year millennium reign of Christ

As with many of Kens books, he provides great context often not found elsewhere.The binding of the book is poor, but it's to be expected considering the price. Kens additional commentary is useful 95% of the time, although i do feel that he has a strong bias when it comes to the timing of rapture and strongly asserts that it several places where I don't think it is warranted. Anyhow, over this is a great book, i finished it in 2 days, it contains some very interesting information which help to illuminate certain Biblical passages.5 star

Useful contribution for a wise and discriminating researcher and good to know these 3 elders agree, but fails to recognise that the Roman apostasy began after them in the 3rd century, increasing ever since +++Enoch and Elijah as the 2W,s is correct and accords with Nicodemus (supported by Revelatory John), not Moses who was a 2nd hand witness 2500 yrs after ‘the days of Noah‘ hence his brief account In the Jewish 24OT tanakh (from Masoretic Text) compared to detailed Hebrew DSS books of Enoch, Jasher, & Jubilees 1000 yrs older +Authors commentary not always accurate.

Great book

Fine.

Very interesting and enjoyable read. Really gives a perspective of the early churches thoughts on prophecy and end time events