Posted on 06/22/2019 3:25:07 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
It’s been said that the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. In a similar vein, the greatest trick the anti-Christ will pull will be to convince men he is the savior of the world instead of its destroyer, according to a powerful radio sermon given by Venerable Servant of God Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in 1947 that was dug up out of a digital archive and published on YouTube last week.
Like the devil, whose trademark signature is to twist the truth to sell sin, so the anti-Christ, according to Sheen, will twist the minds of men to make them believe he is the “Great Humanitarian” who will “talk peace, prosperity and plenty.”
While Sheen’s description of the anti-Christ was given almost 70 years ago, his words may be more pertinent in our own times than they were in his. His prophetic message is absolutely crucial for every sincere Christian who seeks to be faithful to Christ to the end. He states:
The anti-Christ will not be so called, otherwise he would have no followers. He will wear no red tights, nor vomit sulphur, nor carry a spear nor wave an arrowed tail as Mephistopheles in Faust.
Nowhere in Sacred Scripture do we find warrant for the popular myth of the devil as a buffoon who is dressed like the first “red.” Rather is he described as a fallen angel, and as “the Prince of this world” whose business it is to tell us that there is no other world. His logic is simple: if there is no heaven there is no hell; if there is no hell, there is no sin; if there is no sin, there is no judge, and if there is no judgement then evil is good and good is evil.
But above all these descriptions, Our Lord tells us that He will be so much like Himself, that he would deceive even the elect – and certainly no devil we have ever seen in picture books could deceive even the elect. How will he come in this new age to win followers to his religion?
[Signs of the anti-Christ:]
In the midst of all his seeming love for humanity and his glib talk of freedom and equality, he will have one great secret which he will tell to no one; he will not believe in God. And because his religion will be brotherhood without the fatherhood of God, he will deceive even the elect.
He will set up a counter-Church, which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will be the mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the Church as the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, he will induce modern man, in his loneliness and frustration, to hunger more and more for membership in his community that will give man enlargement of purpose, without any need of personal amendment and without the admission of personal guilt. These are days in which the devil has been given a particularly long rope.
Sheen states that he raises his concerns about the anti-Christ, not because he fears for the survival of the Catholic Church, but because of the devastation the anti-Christ will bring upon those who have no faith.
“It is not infallibility we are worried about, but the world’s lapse into fallibility; we tremble not that God may be dethroned, but that barbarism may reign; it is not Transubstantiation that may perish, but the home; not the sacraments that may fade away, but the moral law.”
Sheen has confidence that since the Church has survived other great crises in her centuries of existence, “she will live to sing a requiem over the evils of the present.”
“The Church may have its Good Fridays but these are only preludes to its Easter Sundays, for the Divine Promise shall never be made void: ‘. . . and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.’ (Matthew 28:20) ”
“Never before in history has there been such a strong argument for the need of Christianity, for men are now discovering that their misery and their woes, their wars and their revolutions increase in direct ratio and proportion to the neglect of Christianity. Evil is self defeating; good alone is self-preserving,” he stated.
Sheen urged his hearers to take concrete action against the evils of the day by tapping into the spiritual resources given by God for battle.
As Christians we must realize that a moment of crisis is not a time of despair, but of opportunity. We were born in crisis, in defeat – the Crucifixion. Once we recognize we are under Divine Wrath, we become eligible for Divine Mercy. The very disciplines of God create hope. The thief on the right came to God by a crucifixion.
[What Catholics must do to survive the evil day:]
18 minute YouTube video of Fulton Sheen here
It's from 1974--- 45 years ago --- and couldn't be more apropos.
Links to both the video and text version are at the original LifeSite link.
Sheen helped millions of Catholics and non-Catholics ,...
his sermons are 95 percent still relevant today...and I wish they’d get more airplay
....
a very very very very minor quibble...
Sheen: “He will set up a counter-Church, which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God.”
me: yes indeed, but most of this evil will be achieved by infiltrating existing churches and synagogues... whether Catholic or otherwise, churches that teach or attempt to teach God’s word................and, from within, take them over ....to replace any kind of genuine Biblical or moral teachings with “another gospel”...including patently anti-moral “values” that destroy people, families, and society.
same idea as Ven. Sheen.. just explicating it a bit with the advantage of hindsight.... the most serious dangers today are not new churches but the infiltration of “enemy agents” into existing churches that, up until now, have (allowing for their varying distinctives, doctrines)...been (largely, anyway) preaching and teaching Biblical messages and values
the greatest dangers come from the wolves within the sheeps’ fold, imho
I just watch what Obama is doing and figure that that provides an insight into the Antichrist playbook.
Bishop Sheen was a great anti-Communist. He described Catholicism as Christ and the Cross, and Communism as just the Cross.
He also stated that Communists warm their houses by burning their neighbors’ houses.
And even more astounding, the lack of huge push-back from the bishops. There are over 5,000 bishops (more or less) in the Catholic Church around the world, and those openly opposed the Francis' antichurch program number ---as far as I know -- in the low dozens.
Raise up saints, O Lord. Make us saints.
We used to watch him as kids. Then on Sunday the priest would quiz the congregation: How many know what the “ego” is?
the problem with relying too much on any leadership, whether political or religious, Catholic/Protestant/Jewish,corporate, state/local.....whatever
is that leadership consists of human beings.
often, very very good people worthy of great respect.
sometimes,.... not.
the “nots” wind up doing great damage to us all, if only by virtue of their having obtained positions of “leadership” in the very institutions we look to...for positive benefits or (in the case of religious organizations) guidance
their positions of “leadership” from within our “trusted” organizations... enable them to multiply the damages they inflict on us.
truly, I believe, we must always be on guard ... not only against the enemy outside our walls........but especially the enemies within our own tents
I was shocked to read recently that Cardinal Spellman had Archbishop Sheen effectively exiled and the elevation to the Archbishopric was a cover for his Machiavellian act.
What Catholics must do to survive the evil day“
Not a single one is Biblical, nor would they help...
Why did praying to God not make his list?
THANKS for posting. Love Archbishop Sheen. Growing up in Chicago I remember watching his tv show. Those shows are all on youtube now!
Staying in the Word didn’t make the list either.
It’s food for the spirit and soul and keeps one focused on God and HIS plan.
[What Catholics must do to survive the evil day:]I’d include frequent confession in there.
Bishop Sheen bump!
Amen.
Okay that's it. You and metmom are on double secret probation. Bringing up Biblical facts just aren't helpful on some of these religion threads.
/s
Infilterating existing churches
________________________________
Exactly, and he has been doing that for years, and how so many
people can read the threads every day and not see that is
beyond my understanding.
That is why God tells his people to come out of her and be not
partakers of her sins rev 18:4
Yes I recall something like that. Very unfortunate.
“It’s food for the spirit and soul and keeps one focused on God and HIS plan.
+1
Spellman was part of the Lavender Mafia. His homosexuality was an open secret in New York.
Sheen advises that we assist at Mass daily. Do you know Who is being prayed to in the Mass? Most of the Mass is directed to God the Father. (Some of it is to the Trinity, some to the Holy Spirit.) Do you know Who is doing the praying? The principal person *praying* at Mass is Jesus Christ, Our Lord and God.
Here's the *only* prayer in the "Ordinary of the Mass" that refers to Mary, and notice how she is addressed. The same way the rest of us are addressed:
I confess to Almighty GodSimilarly with the Rosary.
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have greatly sinned,
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done
and in what I have failed to do,
through my fault,
through my fault,
through my most grievous fault.
Therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin,
all the Angels and Saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters
to pray for me to the Lord our God.
"Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen."And:
"O my Jesus,Who do you think we, all of us, Blessed Mary and the Archangel Michael, are praying to? We all pray to the same God, metmom.
forgive us our sins,
Save us from the fires of hell.
Lead all souls to heaven,
especially those in most need of Thy mercy."
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