Here are two verses, where there seems to be some tension:
And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it
[Matthew 16:18]
And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. And power was given him over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation
[Apocalypse (Revelation) 13:7]
Now, Dispensationalists will claim, the tension is resolved by the "saints" of the latter verse not being in the Church, but being "Tribulation Saints" ...
I think it is excluded that there will be a clearly non-Church category of tribulation saints if the Church is still present on earth. The Church does not cease to be "the saints" whereever it is.
I also think it is excluded that the Church as a whole will be taken up before the Tribulation.
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world
[Matthew 28:20]
So, people of the Church are clearly meant by "the saints" that the Beast will be overcoming. If there are any other saints, that will be people directed to the Church, that may not have time to get baptised before they get martyred, but they will not be opponents of the Catholic Church.
Therefore I hold that the key to harmony is on some other level.
The Gates of Hades will not ... the verb is a form of κατισχύω, which in the LXX often translates חָזַק
... while The Beast will ... the verb is a form of νικάω.
And also the object is different in an aspect. In Matthew, the non-defeated is the Church, as a single whole. In Apocalypse the defeated ones are the saints, as single members of her.
Here is a question:
If the Antichrist is already taking out the Church as a whole at the beginning of the 42 months, why is he still busy making war on and defeating saints when the 42 months are over?
He will presumably not be taking out the Church as a whole, ever. Even if the last member of the Church is the last Pope and he's rotting in Antichrist's prison, and only taken out and executed or brought to execution* a moment before Christ arrives, the Church would still be there.
Christ said, the gates of Hell, and Antichrist and False Prophet included, will never take over the Church as to make Her a museum piece with no life.** However, He did not promise safety from persecutions, and for 3 and 1/2 years She will be defeated in members in a purely physical, political, judicial sense: handed over to execution. But that will never be all of Her. Probably the reason why Knights of Columbus greet each other (as I have learned from Mark P. Shee's blog), with the greeting "Hail Hydra" ... even if the Antichrist will be the actual seven headed beast, it will be the Church that fatigues Hercules by growing heads after they are lopped off.
And yes, I think Hercules is a fairly apt model for the Antichrist. The last Pagan army of actual Romans that marched against the Chi-Rho, marched under a sign of Hercules. I also think it's Hercules that St. Paul names as the idol whose worship is punished by male homosexuality, as Hercules was the patron deity of exactly that, along with very machist physics. Was there someone in the MAGA camp who wanted to test the testosterone levels of his soldiers? Bad move.
Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris
IX LD after Pentecost
26.VII.2026
PS, this has been linked to in a comment, and if they take the challenge, their youtube will be named in the debate./HGL
* A scenario entertained by a Catholic novelist, I think Graham Greene.
** A Swedish poet, Atterbom, in a dystopia, considered the possibility of a state banning the Church but keeping the requiem Mass for so and so as a museum piece ... but as long as it's said by a real priest, it is a real Mass before God before being a museum piece before men. I think this was the Third or Fourth Adventure of Isle of Bliss (my tentative translation of Lyckslighetens Ö). It's a five act piece, but the acts are called Adventures, and not inappropriately.