S
Seamus_L
Guest
Nothing wrong with discussing God’s word, and I don’t think anyone was attempting to set dates for the Second Coming.
- Status
I
irishpatrick
Guest
Don’t you think that we are already in number one and likely entering number 2?
S
Shin
Guest
FWIF…
Yes, this is where we are now.
The title ‘minor’ apostasy reflects that it’s not as bad as it will be under Antichrist, not that it isn’t quite awful. I suppose surviving this, helps demonstrate to those who will come how to survive the next. Which if one considers how bad it is now, will be. . . well, it’s hard to think of.
From what I have read, I gain the impression that the few survivors in the Age of Peace will live much simpler, less technologically oriented lives than we do.
Part of the reasons things are very bad right now actually, are ironically enough, that technology enables certain deformations that when things are simpler are highly unlikely to occur.
Without some areas of technological and scientific advances for example, the roles of men and women would remain more in their proper place simply because of the natural law and their natural abilities.
This is not saying science and technology are bad, but that, there are plusses and minuses to everything.
The extreme excess of so-called ‘entertainment’ will definitely disappear. Because it ruins character and virtue, and actually is not quite the producer of happiness people think it is, at all.
Yes, this is where we are now.
The title ‘minor’ apostasy reflects that it’s not as bad as it will be under Antichrist, not that it isn’t quite awful. I suppose surviving this, helps demonstrate to those who will come how to survive the next. Which if one considers how bad it is now, will be. . . well, it’s hard to think of.
From what I have read, I gain the impression that the few survivors in the Age of Peace will live much simpler, less technologically oriented lives than we do.
Part of the reasons things are very bad right now actually, are ironically enough, that technology enables certain deformations that when things are simpler are highly unlikely to occur.
Without some areas of technological and scientific advances for example, the roles of men and women would remain more in their proper place simply because of the natural law and their natural abilities.
This is not saying science and technology are bad, but that, there are plusses and minuses to everything.
The extreme excess of so-called ‘entertainment’ will definitely disappear. Because it ruins character and virtue, and actually is not quite the producer of happiness people think it is, at all.
po18guy
Well-known member
As to the general signs of the end times, certainly not, as they represent the fulfillment of prophecy. However, I think it is good to avoid the penchant some seem to possess for specificity and exactness. That’s all…
H
hansard
Guest
I don’t think God intended for any of this to be beyond our scope or powers of understanding. There’s a right answer in eschatology and any number of wrong or misleading answers. I’d like to know, once and for all, what the right answer is.
For example, I’ve always wondered why the dead will be raised if they’re already in Heaven, as the Church teaches. I assume it means that they’ll be reunited with their bodies in advance of the vast bulk of humanity.
And I find it unbelievable that the Church would claim that Satan is locked away at the moment and that we are currently living in a metaphorical “thousand years.” I see no evidence of Satan having anything other than almost complete control of affairs on earth.
And what’s wrong with an actual 1000 year reign by Christ? It would be a perfect opportunity to teach people, once and for all, how to live decent, holy lives, in the absence of Satan’s influence. Does anyone suggest that it’s beyond Christ’s power to do this?
Maybe some things are to be taken literally after all.
For example, I’ve always wondered why the dead will be raised if they’re already in Heaven, as the Church teaches. I assume it means that they’ll be reunited with their bodies in advance of the vast bulk of humanity.
And I find it unbelievable that the Church would claim that Satan is locked away at the moment and that we are currently living in a metaphorical “thousand years.” I see no evidence of Satan having anything other than almost complete control of affairs on earth.
And what’s wrong with an actual 1000 year reign by Christ? It would be a perfect opportunity to teach people, once and for all, how to live decent, holy lives, in the absence of Satan’s influence. Does anyone suggest that it’s beyond Christ’s power to do this?
Maybe some things are to be taken literally after all.
P
patrick457
Guest
Well, the present Catechism does have this:
676 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, (Cf. DS 3839) especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism. (Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, condemning the “false mysticism” of this “counterfeit of the redemption of the lowly”; cf. GS 20-21)
As for Satan being ‘bound’: in the amilennialist scenario, he is a rabid dog on a leash or a beast on a cage. Restrained from doing large-scale damage, but still capable of inflicting harm if you came dangerously close. The binding is such that while he can still lead people into sin (and perhaps have an indirect hand or two in the affairs of man), he cannot deceive the nations by hindering the preaching of the gospel. This is the only binding he will suffer in history: the forces of Satan will not be gradually pushed back by the Kingdom of God as history progresses but will remain just as active as always up until the second coming of Christ, and therefore good and evil will remain mixed in strength throughout history and even in the Church, according to the amillennial understanding of the parables of the wheat and tares (Matthew 13:24-30) and the drawing in the net (Matthew 13:47-52).
Amillennialists cite scripture references to the kingdom not being a physical realm: Matthew 12:28, where Jesus cites his driving out of demons as evidence that the kingdom of God had come upon them; Luke 17:20-21, where Jesus warns that the coming of the kingdom of God can not be observed, and that it is among them; and Romans 14:17, where Paul speaks of the kingdom of God being in terms of the Christians’ actions.
The amillenialist will point out at what happened the last 2000 years: today, a third of the human race is Christian and even more than that have embraced the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Before that, only a tiny ethnic group in a certain corner of the world had the fullness of truth while the rest, blinded, were groping in the darkness. So there’s obviously something at work here: if Satan was in his full strength, the Gospel would not have gone far.
P
patrick457
Guest
St. Augustine - who made popular the amilennialist idea for latter generations - explained the coexistence of good and evil this way: there was the celestial ‘Jerusalem’, the city that lives for God, where the millennium is already manifest, and the earthly ‘Babylon’, the city that lives for itself, that time-bound city of violence and oppression in which the thousand-year reign is not visible. These two cities would coexist as a corpus permixtum - a mixed body - in every man born into this world (including saints!), in every society, and in the Church, until the end of days. As a corpus permixtum, the Church exists in the same precarious present as the human soul: it is a mixture of otherworldly yearning (caritas) and carnal misdirection (cupiditas).
G
GaryTaylor
Guest
Shin started me thinking in a different direction with his thoughts on technology.
I think many have come along over the past decades and centurys who cleary seen the future. To a smaller degree Merton comes to mind from the 60s writting out of the Abbey in Kentucky. He attracted so much attention as a Catholic Monk, artists of the period like Joan Baez were traveling to Lexington to talk to him.
My point is that he clearly seen the need for World Peace which had to start from the US and be promoted without violence. Not that he didn’t see the world view, but thought past it on how to resolve the issue in a comprehensive obtainable way. In other words the question to him was always, “Well, what can we do”?
To the technical world today and the information highway, though it has bought its Pro’s for sure. The Con’s it has bought are very significant and maybe outweigh the Pro’s. Today we cannot overcome issues without a hands-on approach. Fear and Trust can be overcome with the effort of human involvement alone. This the area they were correct in with Merton, King, and others from the 60’s who found success with obstacles. That period is closest to ours in modern time where efforts in Gods name were actually working.
Today you can see what a hands on approach is doing in Egypt. But…violence was added to the equation. Yet they couldn’t accomplish what they accomplished by sitting at a keyboard. That entire movement starts with one college student in Egypt.
But yes much of what we “think” we need today is not needed. And this perpetual motion can’t be stopped unless theres an equal and opposing force. And with a body at rest it can’t happen. All simple physics.
So the question always comes back to exactly as Merton proposed always, “Well what can we do?” All that happened in the 60’s started with Priests and Sisters. Thats often overlooked because it grew in many directions. But the “Catholic Worker” out of NYC had a large impact in the late 50’s early 60’s. It evolves through students, scholars and to a large degree from Artists with a political/religious message.
What comes to mind immediately is the Orthodox/Catholic situation. People “chose” to disagree for the lack of actually knowing each other and fear and trust issues. Ask them on an individual level if either have ever been in the other Church? 99% haven’t. So how could you possibly know you really do have an issue with, but from what you read? So there’s no real personal effort made on a personal level to solve any problem today. The Pope visits the Partiarch once or twice a year and different ones at that. Russia this year I believe, and thats it. And they all conclude that the real issue, is not doctrine, but a lack of love for each other! And this is exactly what Benedict states in “Light of the World”.
And not to get away from the topic, but we have to understand how much we are responsible for where we are today. Its easy to say “they” did this, and “they” did that. But who are the “they”. We are the human race who are the “We the People” that the forefathers of this country clearly spoke on. The individual as the majority is the only opinion that counts. But our forefather came out, and if they had to travel a 1000-miles by horse, they did. What they immediatly knew, we have lost and must regain. Even up to the 60’s we knew this. man still knows it as we see in Egypt.
We have lost the will. And its been lost since the 60’s. The immediate generation that followed was stopped because they immediately felt they were the cause of the violence and not the solution. many forgot or didn’t know the original christian intention of world peace. So they considered the end of Viet Nam War a success and fissled away in oblivion. The purpose was lost. They were wrong, and the next couple decades fell into the limbo we are in today as a result. We retreated to the impersonal life and as a result much good has come out of it. But we lost the most important issue that has haunted mankind since day one. Peace, we lost that goal. And here we now stand on the verge of catastrophy with Israel. The unity of the US is seriously fractured now also.
What I’m saying is this. Should we sit by and take the position that whatever is going to happen in Bible Prophecy is going to happen, so be it? Or should we play an active role for the good of mankind knowing first and foremost that all stand at the mercy of God. The apostles in the NT by their action were fulfilling the prophecy of the OT. Obviously not always, much is simply beyond man and Gods will. Yet the human approach can’t ignored.
We have had a blessing from God, He has given us two very good Popes back to back. And God must have blessed us with this period on minimal war. Its a miracle the middle east hasn’ty exploded. Clearly he knew we were in trouble. But John Paul and Benedict are quick to point out that the Church works from both inside and outside.
Personally I believe we need to stop the focus on whats wrong inside the church and work with a hands on approach with the Orthodox and Protestants who are close to communion coming up to the 7th Council. If we can just socialize with a goal in mind, in person with these Christians. Those father down the Protestant chain those falling off at the 4th council will move up.
How? I don’t know, something simple, a walk across America, anything to wake up the these people sleepwalking. The issues of complex doctrine need not be focused on, issues such as Abortion is a great place to start. It needs to immediatly appeal to the Good of Mankind at a conscious level. Anyway, the thinking is right when we say “What can we do”, and then create a active, working, focused plan in Gods name and will.
I do think its great and opens the mind to think in the topic of the OP. Yet as I mention, I wonder who much we perpetuate this with just idle talk. You know where I’m coming from?
I think many have come along over the past decades and centurys who cleary seen the future. To a smaller degree Merton comes to mind from the 60s writting out of the Abbey in Kentucky. He attracted so much attention as a Catholic Monk, artists of the period like Joan Baez were traveling to Lexington to talk to him.
My point is that he clearly seen the need for World Peace which had to start from the US and be promoted without violence. Not that he didn’t see the world view, but thought past it on how to resolve the issue in a comprehensive obtainable way. In other words the question to him was always, “Well, what can we do”?
To the technical world today and the information highway, though it has bought its Pro’s for sure. The Con’s it has bought are very significant and maybe outweigh the Pro’s. Today we cannot overcome issues without a hands-on approach. Fear and Trust can be overcome with the effort of human involvement alone. This the area they were correct in with Merton, King, and others from the 60’s who found success with obstacles. That period is closest to ours in modern time where efforts in Gods name were actually working.
Today you can see what a hands on approach is doing in Egypt. But…violence was added to the equation. Yet they couldn’t accomplish what they accomplished by sitting at a keyboard. That entire movement starts with one college student in Egypt.
But yes much of what we “think” we need today is not needed. And this perpetual motion can’t be stopped unless theres an equal and opposing force. And with a body at rest it can’t happen. All simple physics.
So the question always comes back to exactly as Merton proposed always, “Well what can we do?” All that happened in the 60’s started with Priests and Sisters. Thats often overlooked because it grew in many directions. But the “Catholic Worker” out of NYC had a large impact in the late 50’s early 60’s. It evolves through students, scholars and to a large degree from Artists with a political/religious message.
What comes to mind immediately is the Orthodox/Catholic situation. People “chose” to disagree for the lack of actually knowing each other and fear and trust issues. Ask them on an individual level if either have ever been in the other Church? 99% haven’t. So how could you possibly know you really do have an issue with, but from what you read? So there’s no real personal effort made on a personal level to solve any problem today. The Pope visits the Partiarch once or twice a year and different ones at that. Russia this year I believe, and thats it. And they all conclude that the real issue, is not doctrine, but a lack of love for each other! And this is exactly what Benedict states in “Light of the World”.
And not to get away from the topic, but we have to understand how much we are responsible for where we are today. Its easy to say “they” did this, and “they” did that. But who are the “they”. We are the human race who are the “We the People” that the forefathers of this country clearly spoke on. The individual as the majority is the only opinion that counts. But our forefather came out, and if they had to travel a 1000-miles by horse, they did. What they immediatly knew, we have lost and must regain. Even up to the 60’s we knew this. man still knows it as we see in Egypt.
We have lost the will. And its been lost since the 60’s. The immediate generation that followed was stopped because they immediately felt they were the cause of the violence and not the solution. many forgot or didn’t know the original christian intention of world peace. So they considered the end of Viet Nam War a success and fissled away in oblivion. The purpose was lost. They were wrong, and the next couple decades fell into the limbo we are in today as a result. We retreated to the impersonal life and as a result much good has come out of it. But we lost the most important issue that has haunted mankind since day one. Peace, we lost that goal. And here we now stand on the verge of catastrophy with Israel. The unity of the US is seriously fractured now also.
What I’m saying is this. Should we sit by and take the position that whatever is going to happen in Bible Prophecy is going to happen, so be it? Or should we play an active role for the good of mankind knowing first and foremost that all stand at the mercy of God. The apostles in the NT by their action were fulfilling the prophecy of the OT. Obviously not always, much is simply beyond man and Gods will. Yet the human approach can’t ignored.
We have had a blessing from God, He has given us two very good Popes back to back. And God must have blessed us with this period on minimal war. Its a miracle the middle east hasn’ty exploded. Clearly he knew we were in trouble. But John Paul and Benedict are quick to point out that the Church works from both inside and outside.
Personally I believe we need to stop the focus on whats wrong inside the church and work with a hands on approach with the Orthodox and Protestants who are close to communion coming up to the 7th Council. If we can just socialize with a goal in mind, in person with these Christians. Those father down the Protestant chain those falling off at the 4th council will move up.
How? I don’t know, something simple, a walk across America, anything to wake up the these people sleepwalking. The issues of complex doctrine need not be focused on, issues such as Abortion is a great place to start. It needs to immediatly appeal to the Good of Mankind at a conscious level. Anyway, the thinking is right when we say “What can we do”, and then create a active, working, focused plan in Gods name and will.
I do think its great and opens the mind to think in the topic of the OP. Yet as I mention, I wonder who much we perpetuate this with just idle talk. You know where I’m coming from?
R
roveau
Guest
It is difficult to believe that Satan has been locked away at this time, what is the comparison with the deaths of war during mediaeval times, World War I and II as instances, the murder of how many millions of Jews, the abortion in the last 50 years of perhaps a half a billion babies, worldwide spread of porn, paedophilia, the drastic decline of all Christian churches and so on?
I also can’t see anything wrong with the 1000 years when Revelation is so specific about it. But what will happen exactly is all up to God.
But I believe it is up to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit what they will do at the time when Christ descends to earth in glory… when, as the Gospels says, we will least expect it.
The details are of no relevance to us at this stage. We just know that Christ will come down just in the same way as the apostles and others saw Him go up on the day of the Ascension.
G
GaryTaylor
Guest
Satan is not locked away. Where did that come from? Pope Leo XIII gave this century to Holy Spirit. Because Jesus Christ gave this period to satan as a time of testing. Benedicts May 13th 2010 homily is on-line read it. He referred to Pope Leo XIII and Fatima in that Homily. We are still in that period given to satan. The war of good and evil is very accute “NOW”. THis is the war of good and evil we are in. Its not over and God already won. God does win we know, He hasn’t won yet and satan is creating mass damage on earth today. Because man will not Pray to God. They will eat Gods bread, but they will not call upon His name.
Go to You Tube and listen to all of Fr Malichi Martins lectures. He was a Jesuit Catholic Priest who was advisor to Two Popes, read the Third Secret and worked here in the Tri-State area as an Exorcist for decades. He passed on, but many of his lectures are still there.
The Jesuits are “The Society of Jesus” the Popes men. You have to read what those who are really the elect of this faith “Catholic” are saying. And its not much, so you have to seek it out.
Go to You Tube and listen to all of Fr Malichi Martins lectures. He was a Jesuit Catholic Priest who was advisor to Two Popes, read the Third Secret and worked here in the Tri-State area as an Exorcist for decades. He passed on, but many of his lectures are still there.
The Jesuits are “The Society of Jesus” the Popes men. You have to read what those who are really the elect of this faith “Catholic” are saying. And its not much, so you have to seek it out.
C
ConservativeOne
Guest
Is there anyone who has read this thread - and not been petrified by what you’ve read? Let’s face facts. This is not a philosophy class - it’s the future - of our souls.
I’m near shaking - and I realize each of you are speculating based on your reading materials. But while God says, we know not the day nor the hour, someone may accidentally come up with some of the right clues / signposts.
I’d read St. Malachi’s list of Popes and watched / wondered about there being - only one more Pope following Pope Benedict? What would that tell you?
I’ve heard ominous speculations recently about the year 2012, which is too close for comfort, and I’m scared. I’m very scared.
I recall reading on this board once about a saint who said few souls are saved - and I’m scared - I’m very scared.
I’m not suggesting that you discontinue your speculations but I’m wondering - is there anyone reading this with the same fear as mine? Do I want to spend my Eternity in Heaven with God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost? YES ! Am I worthy - sinless - found daily in prayer? NO. I’m scared, tainted seriously by the trappings of this world despite the warnings, and I haven’t read one poster make comment of their own fear. What frightens me is that our 20th Century lives, our manner of dress, forms of entertainment, bickering over Church issues (which I’m guessing we’ve all fallen prey to) begs the question: Are we going to make it? (I’m not judging. I’m just asking.)
If the timeline is so close - AREN’T YOU SCARED? I know I am.
I’m near shaking - and I realize each of you are speculating based on your reading materials. But while God says, we know not the day nor the hour, someone may accidentally come up with some of the right clues / signposts.
I’d read St. Malachi’s list of Popes and watched / wondered about there being - only one more Pope following Pope Benedict? What would that tell you?
I’ve heard ominous speculations recently about the year 2012, which is too close for comfort, and I’m scared. I’m very scared.
I recall reading on this board once about a saint who said few souls are saved - and I’m scared - I’m very scared.
I’m not suggesting that you discontinue your speculations but I’m wondering - is there anyone reading this with the same fear as mine? Do I want to spend my Eternity in Heaven with God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost? YES ! Am I worthy - sinless - found daily in prayer? NO. I’m scared, tainted seriously by the trappings of this world despite the warnings, and I haven’t read one poster make comment of their own fear. What frightens me is that our 20th Century lives, our manner of dress, forms of entertainment, bickering over Church issues (which I’m guessing we’ve all fallen prey to) begs the question: Are we going to make it? (I’m not judging. I’m just asking.)
If the timeline is so close - AREN’T YOU SCARED? I know I am.
S
simple_soul
Guest
*I used to be very scared. In some ways I am still “dealing” with this fear.
It is a fearfully hellish, suffocating, despairing kind of fear.
The kind of fear that makes me start thinking thoughts that everything I believe in to be Truth is actually a lie.
What I have found is the only one who can dispel this fear is God Himself.
So as unworthy as I know I am I am trying to just surrender myself to Him and His Divine Love and Mercy.
Even when the thought runs through my mind that surrendering to His Divine Love and Mercy is a lie, a trick, and that when I die I will see how I deceived I have been, I cling to Him. I surrender to Him. I receive Him as often as I can in the Eucharist so that He can transform me and heal me.
This is the only way I find peace of heart, mind and soul…I have found that only He can dispel the suffocating eclipse of fear and darkness that we seem to be obsessed with living in…the more I focus on Him and His Divine Love and Mercy and let myself consume Him and let Him consume me…the less I am tormented by these fears…I would rather live my life and spend my Eternity in His Love and Mercy than in a suffocating, feardrivien despairing fear that will last for Eternity.
The way I see it is if you believe this fear you are experiencing now is bad, can you imagine spending Eternity in that state?
Only it will be compounded because by the time we reach Eternity it will be to late to surrender to Him. We will be forever trapped in that state of suffocating fear and despair…not how I want to spend Eternity…
I believe satan wants us to despair…they say misery loves company…so the more we can engage people to feed off of this fear the more at home this fear feels until we are so blinded by this fear that when we see Eternity, God’s Divine Love and Mercy we flee from Him and just run right back into that fear. That to me is…really …really…really…scary and what scares me the most is I have found myself doing just that!
Now I just pray that with my dying breath I find God’s Divine Love and Mercy and surrender to Him and not a suffocating, despairing, fear that makes me reject Him for all Eternity.
So I look at this life as the time and place to learn how to live in God’s Divine Love and Mercy and share it with others so that when I die I will know and want nothing more than Him…and will leave the hellish, suffocating, despairing chaos world of fear behind me forever.
Anyway, just thought I would share some of my thoughts…as always I hope and pray they make some sense…
S
simple_soul
Guest
*When I heard todays Epistle I was reminded of this thread so I thought I would share it:
3. They will deceive you with fabricated tales, in a spirit of greed. Their condemnation has not lain idle all this time, however; their destruction is not asleep.
4. Did God spare even the angels who sinned? He did not! He held them captive in Tartarus-consigned them to pits of darkness, to be guarded until judgment.
5. Nor, did he spare the ancient world-even though he preserved Noah as a preacher of holiness, with seven others, when he brought down the flood on the godless earth.
6. He blanketed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in ashes and condemned them to destruction, thereby showing what would happen in the future to the godless.
7. He did deliver Lot, however, a just man oppressed by the conduct of men unprincipled in their lusts.
8. (Day after day that just one, good as he was, felt himself tormented by seeing and hearing about the lawless deeds of those among whom he lived.)
9. The Lord, indeed, knows how to rescue devout men from trial, and how to continue the punishment of the wicked up to the day of judgment.
Punishment of Evildoers.
10. He knows, especially, how to treat those who live for the flesh in their desire for whatever corrupts, and who despise authority. These bold and arrogant men have no qualms whatever about reviling celestial beings,
11. on whom angels, though greater than men in strength and power, pass no opprobrious sentence in the Lord’s presence.
12. These men pour abuse on things of which they are ignorant. They act like creatures of instinct, brute animals born to be caught and destroyed. Because of their decadence they too will be destroyed, suffering the reward of their wickedness.
13. Thinking daytime revelry a delight, they are stain and defilement as they share your feasts in a spirit of seduction.
14. Constantly on the lookout for a woman, theirs is a never-ending search for sin. They lure the weaker types. Their hearts are trained in greed. An accursed lot they are!
They have abandoned the strait road and wandered off on the path taken by Balaam, son of Beor. He was a man attracted to dishonest gain,
16. but he was rebuked for his evildoing. A mute beast spoke with a human voice to restrain the prophet’s madness.
17. These men are waterless springs, mists whipped by the gale. the darkest gloom has been reserved for them.
18. They talk empty bombast while baiting their hooks with passion, with lustful ways of the flesh, to catch those who have just come free of a life of errors.
19. They promise them freedom though they themselves are slaves of corruption-for surely anyone is the slave of that by which he has been overcome.
20. When men have fled a polluted world by recognizing the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then are caught up and overcome in pollution once more, their condition is worse than their first.
21. It would have been better for them not to have recognized the road to holiness than to have turned their backs on the holy law handed on to them, once they had known it.
22. How well the proverb fits them: “The dog returns to it’s vomit,” and "A sow bathes by wallowing in the mire."
This is why I want nothing more to do with thoughts that cause me to live in a state of suffocating despairing fear and doubt. I want to only focus on God. I Love God, I want nothing more than to just live in His Love and Mercy. I know He loves me too, no matter how corrupt I am because He came to save me.
He is so Divine…
to stray away from Him and to live in that fear again is most definitely like wallowing in the mire or eating my own vomit…I pray to Thee Sweet Jesus to never let me taste anything but Your Love and Mercy from now on and for all Eternity…
*
- In times past there were false prophets among God’s people, and among you also there will be false teachers who will smuggle in pernicious heresies. They will go so far as to deny the Master who acquired them for his own, thereby bringing on themselves swift disaster.
- Their lustful ways will lure many away. Through them, the true way will be made subject to contempt.
3. They will deceive you with fabricated tales, in a spirit of greed. Their condemnation has not lain idle all this time, however; their destruction is not asleep.
4. Did God spare even the angels who sinned? He did not! He held them captive in Tartarus-consigned them to pits of darkness, to be guarded until judgment.
5. Nor, did he spare the ancient world-even though he preserved Noah as a preacher of holiness, with seven others, when he brought down the flood on the godless earth.
6. He blanketed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in ashes and condemned them to destruction, thereby showing what would happen in the future to the godless.
7. He did deliver Lot, however, a just man oppressed by the conduct of men unprincipled in their lusts.
8. (Day after day that just one, good as he was, felt himself tormented by seeing and hearing about the lawless deeds of those among whom he lived.)
9. The Lord, indeed, knows how to rescue devout men from trial, and how to continue the punishment of the wicked up to the day of judgment.
Punishment of Evildoers.
10. He knows, especially, how to treat those who live for the flesh in their desire for whatever corrupts, and who despise authority. These bold and arrogant men have no qualms whatever about reviling celestial beings,
11. on whom angels, though greater than men in strength and power, pass no opprobrious sentence in the Lord’s presence.
12. These men pour abuse on things of which they are ignorant. They act like creatures of instinct, brute animals born to be caught and destroyed. Because of their decadence they too will be destroyed, suffering the reward of their wickedness.
13. Thinking daytime revelry a delight, they are stain and defilement as they share your feasts in a spirit of seduction.
14. Constantly on the lookout for a woman, theirs is a never-ending search for sin. They lure the weaker types. Their hearts are trained in greed. An accursed lot they are!
They have abandoned the strait road and wandered off on the path taken by Balaam, son of Beor. He was a man attracted to dishonest gain,
16. but he was rebuked for his evildoing. A mute beast spoke with a human voice to restrain the prophet’s madness.
17. These men are waterless springs, mists whipped by the gale. the darkest gloom has been reserved for them.
18. They talk empty bombast while baiting their hooks with passion, with lustful ways of the flesh, to catch those who have just come free of a life of errors.
19. They promise them freedom though they themselves are slaves of corruption-for surely anyone is the slave of that by which he has been overcome.
20. When men have fled a polluted world by recognizing the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then are caught up and overcome in pollution once more, their condition is worse than their first.
21. It would have been better for them not to have recognized the road to holiness than to have turned their backs on the holy law handed on to them, once they had known it.
22. How well the proverb fits them: “The dog returns to it’s vomit,” and "A sow bathes by wallowing in the mire."
This is why I want nothing more to do with thoughts that cause me to live in a state of suffocating despairing fear and doubt. I want to only focus on God. I Love God, I want nothing more than to just live in His Love and Mercy. I know He loves me too, no matter how corrupt I am because He came to save me.
He is so Divine…
to stray away from Him and to live in that fear again is most definitely like wallowing in the mire or eating my own vomit…I pray to Thee Sweet Jesus to never let me taste anything but Your Love and Mercy from now on and for all Eternity…
*
S
Shin
Guest
To Jesus My Friend
by St. Claude de la Colombiere
Jesus! You are my true Friend, my only Friend. You take a part in all my misfortunes; You take them on Yourself; You know how to change them into blessings; You listen to me with the greatest kindness when I relate my troubles to You, and You have always balm to pour on my wounds.
I find You at all times; I find You everywhere, You never go away: if I have to change my dwelling, I find You there wherever I go. You are never weary of listening to me, You are never tired of doing me good. I am certain of being beloved by You, if I love You; my goods are nothing to You, and by bestowing Yours on me, You never grow poor; however miserable I may be, no one nobler or cleverer or even holier can come between You and me, and deprive me of Your friendship; and death, which tears us away from all other friends, will unite me forever to You. All the humiliations attached to old age, or to the loss of honor, will never detach You from me; on the contrary, I shall never enjoy You more fully, and You will never be closer to me than when everything seems to conspire against me to overwhelm me and to cast me down. You bear with all my faults with extreme patience, and even my want of fidelity and my ingratitude do not wound You to such a degree as to make You unwilling to receive me when I return to You. O Jesus, grant that I may die praising You, that I may die loving You, that I may die for the love of you.
Amen.
by St. Claude de la Colombiere
Jesus! You are my true Friend, my only Friend. You take a part in all my misfortunes; You take them on Yourself; You know how to change them into blessings; You listen to me with the greatest kindness when I relate my troubles to You, and You have always balm to pour on my wounds.
I find You at all times; I find You everywhere, You never go away: if I have to change my dwelling, I find You there wherever I go. You are never weary of listening to me, You are never tired of doing me good. I am certain of being beloved by You, if I love You; my goods are nothing to You, and by bestowing Yours on me, You never grow poor; however miserable I may be, no one nobler or cleverer or even holier can come between You and me, and deprive me of Your friendship; and death, which tears us away from all other friends, will unite me forever to You. All the humiliations attached to old age, or to the loss of honor, will never detach You from me; on the contrary, I shall never enjoy You more fully, and You will never be closer to me than when everything seems to conspire against me to overwhelm me and to cast me down. You bear with all my faults with extreme patience, and even my want of fidelity and my ingratitude do not wound You to such a degree as to make You unwilling to receive me when I return to You. O Jesus, grant that I may die praising You, that I may die loving You, that I may die for the love of you.
Amen.
S
Shin
Guest
However difficult the end of time is, we are in the palm of His hand.
S
simple_soul
Guest
This is a beautiful read…thank you for sharing…
D
Divine_Mercy83
Guest
Only God the Father knows of when the the “end of times” will approauch us. I hope it isn’t through my life time that’s for sure but I try my best to live a rightous life just in case. Burning for eternity is not something I want any part of lol God bless you all.
S
simple_soul
Guest
*You know, the more I dwell on this the more I am lead to believe that the we do not have a choice in the mater.
I believe we all have to go through the “end of times.”
I just pray I stay vigilant and as I see the end times coming, no matter how scary or difficult the end time for me is, I will stay focused on God and do not get distracted with that which seeks to separate me from Him.
*
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