Okay, I think I’m going to have to start avoiding Glenn Beck’s program. I’ve always liked him, and I do think he’s right about some things…but did anyone catch Thursday’s episode? Needless to say, the conclusion…though he never came out and said it…is that the unrest in the Middle East is a sign we’re in the End Times.
The thing is…it’s always scared the heck out of me, the whole End Times thing. I don’t fear death itself nearly as much as I do the End Times. I mean, I read the Bible, I know we win, I know Jesus comes back…but it scares me. In fact, that fear has at times made me consider leaving the Faith.
Maybe I feel like I won’t belong in the new kingdom…I’m hardly perfect, and my passion and what I feel is my purpose, being a writer, probably won’t be needed. Maybe I feel like I haven’t had a chance to do enough yet…I’m going to turn 29, I’m not married yet (soon, I keep praying!) and I needed another decade to get it all together because of my struggles with Tourette’s Syndrome. There’s so much I want to do, want to see, want to experience…can’t the world just stay about the same for another sixty years? Even twenty…I have a feeling my life is really about to pick up.
I do have a fear that I will stand behind God at judgement and He’ll say He gave me gifts that I didn’t use and disappointed Him. I’m working on my first novel and several other artistic projects, including a Catholic-based webcomic aimed at Tweens. I want to help others, I want to do something with it worthy of telling Him when I get to Heaven. I mean, there’s this great quote from “ER”: ‘Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.’ I want to feel like I did that.
So…any advice? Are we in the End Times or are people jumping the gun a bit? And what can I do to feel like I don’t have to be afraid… I’m just looking for some help, so I hope you guys will forgive me for making this my first post.
This is my current plan: Continue to make time for prayer, rosary and Bible reading every day. Try to live my faith as much as I can and always strive to do it better. Keep seeing myself as a work in progress and keep trying to improve. Enjoy life for the beautiful things we have to enjoy. And try to bring beauty and happiness to others with my writing and artistic gifts. How does that sound?
I heard a priest say that we ARE livign in the end times and have been so for the last 2000 years (God’s times are not ours).
But in spite of Christ saying no one knows the hour, people have been predicting the “End times” ever since Jesus ascended…
I think your plan is a good one. Pray, work and strive to improve and become more Christlike. Beyond that don’t worry. Our fate is in God’s hands…and He is both Just AND merciful to His Children.
Nobody knows when Jesus is coming back. We don’t know what’s going to happen though the current chaos seems to fit a picture of end time. We should pay attention to the current events, but we cannot let them get to us.
Like you said, we all have our dreams - get married, have a family, take off in career, serve God and be God’s useful instrument, travel, enjoy life… But if Jesus comes back tomorrow, we have no choice but go along with it. Yet today, we must still live our life to the fullest.
Prayer is the most important thing, especially in time of turbulence. The world needs God, the world needs prayers. Please pray for the conversion of sinners, please pray for the world. And have peace in your heart. God bless!
You have a great plan and relax. Maybe give Glen a rest for a couple of days. We know not the time and neither does Glen or anyone else. Continue with your faith in God and you will be just fine.
Then again, so did the chaos in Europe in the 30’s. And so did the fear after 9/11. I just watched an old Father Corapi on EWTN tonight, done a few months after the attack. And he mentioned he could only imagine what horrible things the terrorists would have done a year from them. Ten years and they haven’t. Maybe this is sorta the same thing. I don’t know, I’m not God, but maybe sometimes we overthink things…and maybe ten years from now what’s happening the Middle East will be seen the same way as in it could have been worse.
But I’m prescribing a heavy course of anti-anxiety drugsto myself anyways…prayer three times daily, Bible twice daily and daily rosary.
Quite the contrary, in my humble opinion. When peace is achieved over there (through Daniel's prophesied 7-year peace plan), that's when trouble is near. Your mental energy will be better spent on writing that book of yours rather than worry about what might not even take place in my or your lifetime. Peace, and welcome to the forum.
Mimi, if it’s any comfort, I don’t even watch Glenn Beck, although I do watch Fr. Corapi. I not only fear End Times; I fear Personal Judgment. Yet on a rational basis, worry will do no good. The best we can do for the End Times and for PJ is to maximize our present opportunities. Live in the present. The rest is out of our control.
Peace,
Elizabeth
Glenn Back is LDS, and they are consumed with the end times. Listen to his politics maybe, but disregard his theology.
Here’s a no brainer: Glen Beck or Jesus?
Glenn Back: “All of this turmoil points to the end of the world…”
Jesus: “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” (Luke 21:27-28)
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
It is cause for great joy. Do not fear suffering, for your Lord did not avoid it for your sake.
I have been attending a class at our parish and last week the leader spoke about the End Times for two hours.
Although he used many quotes from the saints who had visions or messages to explain some of what will happen. Also he used the Bible. I have friends who are fundamentalists that have been talking about this for 25 years, expecting it to happen many years ago.
As others have said no one knows when these things will happen and yes the last days have been happening for the past 2000 years. I don’t fear the Judgement so much for myself, but for my children and their children. I pray daily that all my family will be in Heaven someday.
We are suppose to keep the lamps lit as if today is the day and live each day in a loving way. I also watch Glen Beck and he does document what some people are saying, however I do at times have a problem with him preaching. We just must trust in our Lord, that He will be with us if we must go through difficult times.
You don’t know if you’re going to live to see the end of the world.
You are going to live to see your own death. Focus on that, our death is what we know is going to happen.
[quote=“Saint Isaac of Syria”]“Why do you increase your bonds? Take hold of your life before your light grows dark and you seek help and do not find it. This life has been given to you for repentance; do not waste it in vain pursuits.”
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The end of your world is what is important, not the entire earth.
Furthermore, we are not merely awaiting the glorification of planet Earth, but rather the transfiguration of the universe. This means there could be many incarnations and many plans of salvation for different worlds, and we may be waiting until the heat death of the universe before the second coming happens.
Well, that’s a poor yard stick for a sign of the end times because unrest in the Middle East has been the status quo for 2000 years. (Read Flavius Josephus’s Books of the History of the Jewish War against the Romans. Contemporary account of the war with the Romans ending at Masadawritten in the first century)
I like your plan, all we can do is live our lives in accordance with Christ’s direction. No one knows how their life will terminate, your personal end time may be just around the corner or over 100 years in the future.
In addition to your own good advise and what others have said I would just add that the “heavy anti-anxiety drug” that works the most for me is Jesus Himself. In the Eucharist. Stay as close as you can to Him and let Him dispel these fears and anxieties away.
…
you think?
yes if listening to him, Rush, Dr Laura, Oprah, Dr Phil, Hannity, any other self-styled expert gets you upset especially spiritually, by all means give it a rest
and understand what Rush takes no pains to hide–these programs are Entertainment! not news, not commentary, I am not even going to use adjectives.
This is my current plan: Continue to make time for prayer, rosary and Bible reading every day. Try to live my faith as much as I can and always strive to do it better. Keep seeing myself as a work in progress and keep trying to improve. Enjoy life for the beautiful things we have to enjoy. And try to bring beauty and happiness to others with my writing and artistic gifts. How does that sound?
sounds like the Christian life, and far more healthy than doing what Christ warn’s about in next week’s gospel, worrying about all the little things, and about what you can neither prevent, hasten, or change.
I believe in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins so that me may live with him in heaven.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.
I believe in Jesus Christ who died for our sins so that we may live with him in heaven. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
We need to believe that he died for us. Don’t be afraid!
MimiTheMuse, take comfort in words of our Lord in Holy Scripture.
Matthew 24:23-27
23 Then if any man shall say to you, Lo here is Christ, or there: do not believe him.
24 For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect.
25 Behold I have told it to you, beforehand.
26 If therefore they shall say to you, Behold he is in the desert: go not out. Behold he is in the closets: believe it not.
27 For as lightning comes out of the east and appears even into the west: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Acts1:6-8
6 They therefore who had come together, asked him, saying: Lord, will you at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel?
7 But he said to them: It is not for you to know the time or moments, which the Father has put in his own power:
8 But you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth.
Edit: Instead of panicking, pray the rosary for the conversion of Glenn Beck who has been lead astray by the principalities and powers.
36 **But of that day and hour no one knows: no, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone. **
37 And as in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For, as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, even till that day in which Noe entered into the ark:
39 And they knew not till the flood came and took them all away: so also shall the coming of the Son of man be.
I’m not so concerned about the “end times” as immense trouble that I think is coming. When you’ve got Mary turning up at Fatima c. 1973 with her warnings about “… the living will envy the dead…”, which is the same warning given in Revelation, then I think there’s trouble coming. I’ve long thought the images of Hiroshima / Nagasaki juxtaposed with the photographs of concentration camp survivors were a warning glimpse of what to expect if we don’t change our ways. And of course we haven’t.
We’re not told how long this misery will go on, but I think it will be some years. I have a personal opinion that God intends to drive us off the planet, and out into the universe as part of His plan for the human race. That’s my opinion anyway. If I’m correct, then the “end-times” is some time off. As for the transport option, I think it will be quantum teleporting, which we’re mucking around with even now.
(PhysOrg.com) – Scientists in China have succeeded in teleporting information between photons further than ever before. They transported quantum information over a free space distance of 16 km (10 miles), much further than the few hundred meters previously achieved, which brings us closer to transmitting information over long distances without the need for a traditional signal.
It took about 50 years to get from the Wright brothers string and canvas contraption to supersonic flight. From 1923, the time was about 46 years from Robert Goddard’s liquid fuelled rockets to Apollo 13. Lasers were first discovered in 1960, so it took about 40 to 50 years for that development to mature, to the point where pilotless drones and missiles have been shot down by laser.
So I suspect we’re probably looking at about 50 years or so for quantum teleportation maturity. Which means if the threat of “the living will envy the dead”, then quite a lot of us and our descendants might be living underground and in dire straits for quite some time.
Of course this is my own opinion, and I’m likely to be wrong just as much as anybody else.
I don’t listen to radio commentators or TV evangelists, nor do I read end-times books or material, and never really have, even in my Protestant days.
When you’ve got Mary turning up at Fatima c. 1973 with her warnings about “… the living will envy the dead…”, which is the same warning given in Revelation, then I think there’s trouble coming. I’ve long thought the images of Hiroshima / Nagasaki juxtaposed with the photographs of concentration camp survivors were a warning glimpse of what to expect if we don’t change our ways. And of course we haven’t.
In my extract above from my previous post, I made a blunder. “Fatima” should have read “Akita” which is in Japan.
Incidentally I notice that Akita is only about 260km from Sendai City where the earthquake and tsunami did such massive damage. With my morbid view, I wonder if God was reinforcing a point? Especially with the attendant risk of nuclear meltdown.
For those still not familiar with Mary at Akita, the following is one link.
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