Posted on 09/05/2005 7:05:25 AM PDT by NYer
TORONTO, September 2, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In his thought-provoking editorial in September's Catholic Insight magazine, editor Rev. Alphonse de Valk puts the same-sex "marriage" onslaught into a perspective that perhaps many have been thinking but have not voiced. Writing about the recent enactment of gay "marriage" legislation in Canada, Fr. de Valk writes, "But let us not be despondent. Instead, let us set this latest defeat in its proper context so that at least we may understand what we are facing."
The editorial quotes the Roman Catechism (Council of Trent, 1546) as teaching that "the general judgment will be preceded by these three principal signs: the preaching of the Gospel throughout the world, a falling away from the faith, and the coming of the Antichrist." It notes that the "first has been fulfilled". Indeed on February 21, 2001, in an address which received scant attention, Pope John Paul II, speaking of the "signs of the times," announced that the Gospel was "spread now in all corners of the planet."
With regard to a falling away from the faith, Rev. de Valk says, "It is now recognized within the Catholic Church that the loss of faith among the peoples who once constituted Christendom is well advanced. Recently, Pope Benedict spoke of Europe as a Godless society. 'Europe,' he said, 'has developed a culture that, in a manner unknown before now to humanity, excludes God from the public conscience, either by denying Him altogether, or by judging that His existence is not demonstrable and therefore uncertain and belonging to the realm of subjective choices, something, in any case, irrelevant to public life.'"
The editorial adds, "The heartland of Christianity, Europe, while retaining pockets of strength as in Poland, has essentially apostasized, and so have overseas settlements such as Australia and Canada and, to a lesser extent, the United States." The article does not come to any conclusions or make any predictions regarding these facts and how they appear, for the first time in history, to complete the first two conditions for the "general judgement".
Particularly striking about the editorial is the fact that Rev. de Valk has never been prone to apocalyptic suggestion. Rather, as an academic, political analyst and historian, he has in the past been known to disparage any such suggestions.
Ping of interest - Israel and the Jews as signs!
Amen brother.
The debates about what the prophetic "Antichrist" symbolism might mean are certainly quite interesting. The list of characters is a Who's Who of villains from world history. Islam, Russian Communism, and the Nazis are all in that territory.
What makes liberal secular humanism an Antichrist type ideology now is its adherents' obsessions with redesigning humanity through cloning and the genocidal embryonic stem cell bio-technologies. Mass slaughter of human beings, of any kind, places one demonically in the Antichrist ballpark, but if the prophetic concept is that the Antichrist is one particular historic personality, exuding demonic unwholesomeness combined with totalitarian dictatorial power on a global scale and Luciferian supernatural sorcery, that does not seem to have happened quite yet in that precise Satanic manifestation. Granted, there have been some close seconds and honorable mentions. But merely being immoral, like Clinton, or rejecting Christian teachings on life, like Kerry, did not quite make them "the Antichrist," as enthusiastically as they might have campaigned for the job. At any rate, close to 49% of the American public appear ready to welcome such a leader at any particular time. That's enough of a "preliminary" foreshadowing for people of good will to be concerned about.
N.O. had its own issues, such as Voodoo practice and creating a rampantly amoral tribute to Ash Wednesday (the bastardization and paganization of Mardi Gras).
No one wants to say it because people who do get shot down. God is most definitely trying to get our attention.
Katrina = pure
Aug. 29th = feast of John the Baptist
Indonesian Tsunami occurs on Christmas morning.
In January, Pope John Paul II gives a public address stating, essentially, that the prophecies of Revelation are upon us, that Satan knows he is running out of time.
Sr. Lucia and Pope John Paul II, inexorably connected to Fatima, die one month apart. JPII dies during eclipse and is buried on the feast of Divine Mercy.
Terri Schiavo's gruelling death march occurs during Holy Week, succombing right after Easter.
Meanwhile, 2005 has become a landmark year for cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and gay marriage - a spiritual Axis of Evil.
All I can say is this. Scripture is a blueprint for all times. Just as the naysayers ridiculed Noah for building his ark, we will be ridiculed for building ours. But we enter our ark every time we receive the Eucharist, whereas the world seeks to build a better levee. The storm clouds have formed. The signs are in the air. As someone who spends a great deal of time being personally skeptical of eschatological prophecies and "visions", I think it's staring us in the face. New Orleans is yet another wake-up call. He will keep knocking until we a) answer, or b) allow ourselves to be conquered by the price of our sins.
The antichrist will not come until the chastisement has ended and a short time of peace ensues. The antichrist will come when the Temple is rebuilt and he sits within to be worshiped. Since Christ IS the Temple, the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple and anything within to be worshiped would be antichrist.
We are quite possibly in the midst of a worldwide chastisement.
Last night, my wife and I went to see "Constant Gardener". The coming attractions featured a movie about two gay cowboys and their forbidden love. I turned to my wife: 'Are you friggin' kidding me? Now the Marlboro Man is gay?'
To me this is nothing new. I don't need any signs and wonders other than Israel reforming as a nation. 'That generation' is my generation. Born in 1950. Those who have ignored Bible prophecy, the very words and warnings of Christ, will ignore all the sorts of signs you mention in your post.
I suppose a few of them might wake up when the Tribulation gets into full swing but most will curse God. You RCs seem to pay more attention to Fatima then you do the Word of God. I keep getting the idea from your writings here and there a call for general repentence and things will get better. They're not going to get better. The clock is ticking. The only thing that can be salvaged in the twenty years or so left to man is one's soul.
We have been weighed in the balance and found wanting. The harvest is ready. Those called are looking up, for their redemption draws near. This planet is the crucible of God. In which souls are tempered. The full number is just .... about .... here.
"...You RCs seem to pay more attention to Fatima then you do the Word of God."
LOL!
Does the Word of God teach you to make judgemental cheap shots like that one, against people whose knowledge and love of Scripture is entirely unknown to you?
Interesting that you first wound up with the Book of Ezekiel. A friend of mine, Joel Rosenberg, just released a book this summer called "The Ezekiel Option" that looks to the prophecies in that book and brings in Iran's pursuit to become a nuclear power and Russia's role in it. Joel has already had two NY Times bestsellers -- "The Last Jihad" and "The Last Days". Jihad had a 9/11 scenario and Iraq war written before either of those events happened (although 9/11 did happen before the book was published.) Days dealt with the death of Arafat before it happened.
No one knows the time or the hour, but there are signs for those who look. At least that's what I've heard a Pope or two say.
Just throwing some things out there --
St. Malechy's prophecies on the line of Popes are near an end (if you believe the prophecies are real and not forgeries)
Dec. 21, 2012 -- end of the Mayan long calendar
June 6, 2006 -- a.k.a. 06/06/06
9/11, tsunami, Hurricane Katrina
(And let's not forget the biggest sign of the Apocalypse -- my beloved Boston Red Sox won the World Series last year!!!)
So, if the events in Revelations take 7 years and there is a possible end date of 12/21/2012, that pegs the start of things at the end of this year. Makes you wonder if the Antichrist is out there wandering around right now......
Call it what you will. I only know what I see. A great representative slice of which is right on this thread. I just don't have much use for practices that encourage people to regard delusional little girls as prophets and wonder at stains on walls and burnt toast.
No, Clinton wasn't the Antichrist.
But his wife, well, that's a whole other story.........
Who says it has to be a "he"? Hillary is pure evil after all.....
It is certainly true that liberal secular humanists have expanded the state so as to create a temporal realm demanding veneration and something almost like worship quite above and beyond any jutstified claims or rights in any normal understanding of the relation between Caesar and Christ. The decline of faith, morals, and Christian institutions definitely opens things up for Antichrist-like attitudes, practices, and...horrors. Some of which we can already see.
Well all this was said at fatima and Our Lady asked us to pray the rosary everyday and meditate on the mysteries.
Two dear friend of mine just started to attend church again (both Lutheran BTW), and said much the same thing. "I just felt that it was high time I got back to God".
God works in mysterious ways, and with the devastation in NOLA, it has been a great comfort to know that my friends and being led back to God.
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