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...
AFAIK, there is no Protestant position. Can you point to a common Protestant eschatology ? What denomination or sect do you represent ?
Perhsps your comment is referencing separated Catholics, Protestants masquerading as Catholics, or one of the myriad of other denominations, sects, or one man bands, as evidenced by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which clearly, beautifully, and poignantly yearns for the recognition by all Israel and the return of Messiah.The glorious advent of Christ, the hope of Israel
673 Since the Ascension Christ's coming in glory has been imminent,566 even though "it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority."567. This eschatological coming could be accomplished at any moment, even if both it and the final trial that will precede it are "delayed".568
674 The glorious Messiah's coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by "all Israel", for "a hardening has come upon part of Israel" in their "unbelief" toward Jesus.569
St. Peter says to the Jews of Jerusalem after Pentecost: "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old."570
St. Paul echoes him: "For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?"571 The "full inclusion" of the Jews in the Messiah's salvation, in the wake of "the full number of the Gentiles",572 will enable the People of God to achieve "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ", in which "God may be all in all".573
Catholics don't need to see any movie. They need to attend mass to hear, believe, and obey the three portions from the Bible that are publicly read, and to publicly confess Jesus as LORD.