IT’S not every day you get called a heretic.Continue reading
MILLENARIANISM
Hiding in Plain Sight
NOT long after we were married, my wife planted our first garden. She took me for a tour pointing out the potatoes, beans, cucumbers, lettuce, corn, etc. After she finished showing me the rows, I turned to her and said, “But where’s the pickles?” She looked at me, pointed to a row and said, “The cucumbers are there.”
The Coming Resurrection
A question from a reader:
In Revelation 20, it says the beheaded, etc. will also come back to life and reign with Christ. What do you think that means? Or what might it look like? I believe it could be literal but wondered if you had more insight…
The Triumph
AS Pope Francis prepares to consecrate his papacy to Our Lady of Fatima on May 13th, 2013 through Cardinal José da Cruz Policarpo, Archbishop of Lisbon, [1]Correction: The consecration is to happen through the Cardinal, not the Pope in person himself at Fatima, as I mistakenly reported. it is timely to reflect on the Blessed Mother’s promise made there in 1917, what it means, and how it will unfold… something that seems more and more likely to be in our times. I believe his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, has shed some valuable light on what is coming upon the Church and the world in this regard…
In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. —www.vatican.va
Footnotes
| ↑1 | Correction: The consecration is to happen through the Cardinal, not the Pope in person himself at Fatima, as I mistakenly reported. |
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Millenarianism — What it is, and is Not
Artist Unknown
I WANT to conclude my thoughts on the “era of peace” based on my letter to Pope Francis in hopes that it will benefit at least some who are fearful of falling into the heresy of Millenarianism.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism,(577) especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism.(578) —n. 676
I deliberately left in the footnote references above because they are crucial in helping us understand what is meant by “millenarianism”, and secondly, “secular messianism” in the Catechism.
How the Era was Lost
THE future hope of an “era of peace” based on the “thousand years” that follow the death of Antichrist, according to the the book of Revelation, may sound like a new concept to some readers. To others, it is considered a heresy. But it is neither. The fact is, the eschatological hope of a “period” of peace and justice, of a “Sabbath rest” for the Church before the end of time, does have its basis in Sacred Tradition. In reality, it has been somewhat buried in centuries of misinterpretation, unwarranted attacks, and speculative theology that continues to this day. In this writing, we look at the question of exactly how “the era was lost”—a bit of a soap opera in itself—and other questions such as whether it is literally a “thousand years,” whether Christ will be visibly present at that time, and what we can expect. Why is this important? Because it not only confirms a future hope that the Blessed Mother announced as imminent at Fatima, but of events that must take place at the end of this age that will change the world forever… events that appear to be on the very threshold of our times.
Benedict, and the End of the World
It’s May 21, 2011, and the mainstream media, as usual, are more than ready to pay attention to those who brandish the name “Christian,” but espouse heretical, if not crazy ideas (see articles here and here. My apologies to those readers in Europe for whom the world ended eight hours ago. I should have sent this earlier).
Is the world ending today, or in 2012? This meditation was first published December 18th, 2008…
The Seven Year Trial – Epilogue
Christ the Word of Life, by Michael D. O’Brien
I will choose the time; I will judge fairly. The earth and all its inhabitants will quake, but I have firmly set its pillars. (Psalm 75:3-4)
WE have followed the Passion of the Church, walking in the footsteps of our Lord from His triumphal entry into Jerusalem to His crucifixion, death, and Resurrection. It is seven days from Passion Sunday to Easter Sunday. So too, the Church will experience Daniel’s “week,” a seven year confrontation with the powers of darkness, and ultimately, a great triumph.
Whatever has been prophesied in Scripture is coming to pass, and as the end of the world approaches, it tests both men and the times. —St. Cyprian of Carthage
Below are some final thoughts regarding this series.
On Heresies and More Questions
Mary crushing the serpent, Artist Unknown
First published November 8th, 2007, I have updated this writing with another question on the consecration to Russia, and other very important points.
THE Era of Peace—a heresy? Two more antichrists? Has the “period of peace” promised by Our Lady of Fatima already happened? Was the consecration to Russia requested by her valid? These questions below, plus a comment on Pegasus and the new age as well as the big question: What do I tell my children about what’s coming?
The Coming of the Kingdom of God
THERE has been a danger in the past to see the “thousand year” reign described by St. John in Revelation as a literal reign on earth—where Christ dwells physically in person in a world-wide political kingdom, or even that the saints take global power. On this matter, the Church has been unequivocal:
The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism. —Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC),n.676
We have seen forms of this “secular messianism” in the ideologies of Marxism and Communism, for example, where dictators have attempted to create a society where all are equal: equally wealthy, equally privileged, and sadly as it always turns out, equally enslaved to the government. Likewise, we see on the other side of the coin what Pope Francis calls a “new tyranny” whereby Capitalism is presenenting “a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose.” [1]cf. Evangelii Gaudium, n. 56, 55 (Once again, I wish to raise my voice in warning in the clearest possible terms: we are headed once again toward an “intrinsically perverse” geo-political-economic “beast”—this time, globally.)
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. Evangelii Gaudium, n. 56, 55 |
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The Coming Era of Peace
WHEN I wrote The Great Meshing before Christmas, I concluded saying,
…the Lord began to reveal to me the counter-plan: The Woman Clothed with the Sun (Rev 12). I was so full of joy by the time the Lord was finished speaking, that the plans of the enemy seemed minuscule in comparison. My feelings of discouragement and a sense of hopelessness vanished like fog on a summer morning.
Those “plans” have hung in my heart for over a month now as I’ve eagerly awaited the Lord’s timing to write of these things. Yesterday, I spoke of the veil lifting, of the Lord granting us fresh understandings of what is approaching. The last word is not darkness! It is not hopelessness… for just as the Sun is quickly setting on this era, it is racing toward a new Dawn…