Msgr Pope ping
Evangelicals are not preoccupied with signs of the second coming. A very general statement intended to smear them.
Ping!
Well this should prove interesting. I say the posts will run 10 to 1 in the favor of those who are offended that a Catholic Priest would teach Catholicism to Catholics. The NERVE!
I am grateful he believes, thinks, and writes so well.
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Do Catholics believe that Daniel’s 70th week has already happened?
Excellent, Monsignor Pope!
This post is literally fascinating since your religion, or at least this cleric is taking the Protestant position that we have been teaching here on FR for so many years...
2. Suspended - The glorious Messiah’s coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by “all Israel” (Romans 11:20-26; Mat 23:39), for “a hardening has come upon part of Israel” in their “unbelief” (Romans 11:20-26) toward Jesus.
I find it odd that seemingly every Catholic of FR has rejected the truth of the restoration of Israel after the 'times of the Gentiles' but this cleric has picked up on it...
1. “Soon + Sudden” – Since the Ascension, Christ’s coming in glory has been imminent (Rev 22:20), even though “it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority”(Acts 1:7). This eschatological coming could be accomplished at any moment, even if both it and the final trial that will precede it are “delayed” (Mat 24:44; 1 Thes 5:2; 2 Thes 2:3-12). (CCC # 673).
Your author is very wrong on his understanding of the scriptures...
Talk about cherry picking verses, you Catholic priest here is a master at it...
No one will know the time or day...No one will know the seasons...What people were being addressed here??? It was Jews...Unsaved Jews who were not yet Christians...
But what are Christians told about this event???
1Th 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
1Th 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 1Th 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
1Th 5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
1Th 5:5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
1Th 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
Now that's quite a different message than you priest puts out, isn't it...We WILL know the times and seasons...
Most errors in eschatology proceed from a lack of balance and a failure to appreciate that the final age in which we live is steeped in mysteries and meanings known fully only by God.
Not true for Christians...
Thus, while these are signs that do in fact signal and accompany and usher in the last things, exactly when and how they come together in a definitive sense cannot be known by us.
Real BIBLE scholars tell us that every thing that is needed by the way of signs; every prophecy that ushers in the beginning of the Tribulation and ultimately the 2nd Coming of Jesus has been fulfilled...
5. Second Coming follows a final unleashing of evil - The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection (Rev 19:1-9).
The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God’s victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven (Rev 13:1ff; Rev 20:7-9; Rev 21:2-4). God’s triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world (CCC # 677).
What's this guy talking about...He says your religion will follow the Lord in his death and resurrection at the final unleashing of evil and then he says the church will return with the Lords at the final unleashing of evil...Your author is just blowing bubbles...
3. Suffering and Sedition - Before Christ’s second coming, the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers (Luke 18:8; Mt 24:12). The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of His Messiah come in the flesh (2 Thess 2:4-12; 1 Thess 5:2-3; 1 Jn 2:18-22). (CCC # 675)
This puts the Catholic religion right smack in the middle of the 2nd half of the Tribulation, worshiping the anti-Christ...God forbid that any Catholics here at FR will be subject to that...
Believing in or not believing in the Rapture makes no difference as to whether one will go to heaven or hell...What does make the difference is that there will be no warning...You must be ready, NOW...Christians will hear the sound of a trump of a trumpet and the Lord will call your name and say, 'come up hither'...And you are gone...You must be ready, now...
Catholics need to see this movie...It certainly won't hurt you and may make all the difference in the world...
As a Protestant, I was pleased to see the above statement. In the 1940's Chinese Christians expected the rapture, but instead were confronted with Communist persecution. Many stumbled in their faith.
I once asked my pastor if he would teach about persecution. He responded that, 'It wouldn't be a big draw'.
There are so few prepared for the persecution coming to us in this country.
AFEOCNPTDO