Is the AntiChrist afoot?

[bones_IV]

I’ve wondered that with movies like Constantine’s Sword and Demons and Angels coming out, it makes me wonder is the man of sin afoot. I wonder why catholics are not stepping up to the plate and making counter movies that contradict such drivel. What do you think? Is the AntiChrist afoot?

 

[Della]

Maybe this is a project for Mel Gibson to do (and yes, I know he’s an ultra traditionalist–let’s not have that discussion again, please!)

There have been many anti-christs down through the centuries. We cannot know who the final one will be or where he will come from or any details of his agenda, except it will mean no good for Christ’s Church. This is why we must be constantly vigilant lest we should be fooled by him.

 

[bones_IV]

Maybe this is a project for Mel Gibson to do (and yes, I know he’s an ultra traditionalist–let’s not have that discussion again, please!)

There have been many anti-christs down through the centuries. We cannot know who the final one will be or where he will come from or any details of his agenda, except it will mean no good for Christ’s Church. This is why we must be constantly vigilant lest we should be fooled by him.

True, the devil never sleeps. He’ll try to convince the Muslims into thinking that the holocaust never happened. He’ll try to convince the Christians into thinking that the Jews are Christ killers. He’ll convince the Jews into thinking that Pius XII was a Nazi and that the Catholic faith and all Christianity is anti-semitic. He’ll try to tell everyone that Islam is the religion of peace. The devil is a liar. Pray for the Church.

 

[Shoshana]

Bones, I am trying to counter New Age at our local Retreat Centre and I am hitting a brick wall with our clerics…no one cares!:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: I was told I was crazy and no one listens to me! The letter I wrote was very succint…here it is:

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

Many blessings to you during this very holy season. Please allow me to introduce myself as one who has been a great supporter of many of your courses and retreats. I have been blessed again and again through them and especially through the spirituality of Carmel, namely St John of the Cross. Gratitude still fills my heart for the treasures I have been enriched with through the great number of years.

It has come to my notice that you have an upcoming seminar given by a certain Bijan. It is stated that Bijan spent many years in the study and teaching of ‘A Course in Miracles’. This course written by Helen Schucman was channeled by a spirit which asserts, amongst other things, that Sacred Scripture is in error and this said spirit would rectify the errors found therein. It seems that Bijan also has been made knowledgeable of his ‘Effortless Prosperity’ by a channeled spirit. Spirit channeling is forbidden in Sacred Scripture and within our own Faith. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we find:

2115: God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. Improvidence, however, can constitute a lack of responsibility.
2116: All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to ‘unveil’ the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.
2117: All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others—even if this were for the sake of restoring their health—are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another’s credulity.

‘A course of Miracles’ and ‘Effortless Living’ are an abomination to the Lord. This alone should caution anyone of being involved with such occult material. This book, ‘A Course in Miracles’, should be avoided at all cost. And if one reads Fr Benedict Groeschel , a well known holy, wise, and a no-nonsense priest, as well as a psychologist and acquaintance of Helen Schucman, has maintained in his book, ‘A Still Small Voice’ the possible diabolic origin in the spirit channeling of Helen S.:

‘Others have claimed that there is a diabolical element operating in this whole matter. At first this seemed to me to be far-fetched. However, as I recall the terrible deterioration of Helen at the end of her life (she was frightening to be with) and her hatred for the Course and for all spiritual things, I have reason to wonder.’ (A Still Small Voice, Fr. B. Groeschel P165)

 

[Shoshana]

This very same criteria would apply to Bijan.

The teaching of ‘Effortless Living’ is strictly New Age and is incompatible with Christianity. The Evil One always throws some nuggets of truth along the way into such a pell-mell of pseudo-spirituality. Positive thinking is healthy for the body, soul and spirit. But thinking so positively that it would attract health and wealth is preposterous. We have only to look at Our Lord Jesus Christ: God from God, Light from Light, the Alpha and Omega, who attracted much evil (the temptations in the desert, etc.) since darkness always tries to destroy the Light. Our Lord has said many times that ‘the student is no greater than the Master’…that ‘He was hated, thus so would we be’…’we are to pick up our cross’ and ‘blessed are we when we are persecuted, for the Kingdom of God is ours’! Bijan’s thinking is so opposite to this. I would rather go through life with the Holy Spirit within me than walk around with all the wealth and health that these many spirits promise me…for what would it gain me to lose my soul for eternity? And lose their very soul is not illusory:

‘Two very disturbing but insightful facts gradually came into view for me and threw some light on this very strange chapter in my own life. One was the incredible darkness that descended upon Helen S. in the last years of her life. This woman who has written so eloquently that suffering really did not exist spent the last two years of her life in the blackest psychotic depression I have ever witnessed. Her husband cared for her with an incredible devotion, and her friends did the best they could. But it was almost frightening to be with her. I clearly observed that the denial of the reality of suffering could have catastrophic consequences.’ (A Still Small Voice, Fr. B. Groeschel, P79)

It is a great anguish to realize that Gnosticism has infiltrated different areas of our Faith, most commonly in our convents and retreat centers. Many will lose their already frail Faith by empty promises that just may bring them misery instead. Mount Carmel Spiritual Centre has been a source of much holiness in the past, but now, it will be held responsible for this abomination that has entered into its walls. Mount Carmel will have to give an accounting before the Lord Himself for the scandal this will cause amongst the faithful and for enabling the shipwreck of souls that were redeemed by the Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. For, I fear, this ‘Effortless Living’ is only the beginning of the end…and an end brought on by those responsible for choosing the programs at Mt Carmel and by priests who are to offer sacrifice to God alone!

And to finish, I would love to share quotes that, I try to enflesh within my own life, are
from St John of the Cross, your own spiritual Doctor:

‘…I should not consider any spirituality worthwhile that would walk in sweetness and ease and run from the imitation of Christ…’ (The Ascent of Mount Carmel)

‘…the Beloved dwells secretly with an embrace so much the closer, more intimate, and interior, the purer and more alone the soul is to everything other than God…’ (The Living Flame of Love)

‘…To undertake the journey to God the heart must be burned and purified of all creatures with the fire of Divine love…’ (The Ascent of Mount Carmel)

 

[bones_IV]

This very same criteria would apply to Bijan.

The teaching of ‘Effortless Living’ is strictly New Age and is incompatible with Christianity. The Evil One always throws some nuggets of truth along the way into such a pell-mell of pseudo-spirituality. Positive thinking is healthy for the body, soul and spirit. But thinking so positively that it would attract health and wealth is preposterous. We have only to look at Our Lord Jesus Christ: God from God, Light from Light, the Alpha and Omega, who attracted much evil (the temptations in the desert, etc.) since darkness always tries to destroy the Light. Our Lord has said many times that ‘the student is no greater than the Master’…that ‘He was hated, thus so would we be’…’we are to pick up our cross’ and ‘blessed are we when we are persecuted, for the Kingdom of God is ours’! Bijan’s thinking is so opposite to this. I would rather go through life with the Holy Spirit within me than walk around with all the wealth and health that these many spirits promise me…for what would it gain me to lose my soul for eternity? And lose their very soul is not illusory:

‘Two very disturbing but insightful facts gradually came into view for me and threw some light on this very strange chapter in my own life. One was the incredible darkness that descended upon Helen S. in the last years of her life. This woman who has written so eloquently that suffering really did not exist spent the last two years of her life in the blackest psychotic depression I have ever witnessed. Her husband cared for her with an incredible devotion, and her friends did the best they could. But it was almost frightening to be with her. I clearly observed that the denial of the reality of suffering could have catastrophic consequences.’ (A Still Small Voice, Fr. B. Groeschel, P79)

It is a great anguish to realize that Gnosticism has infiltrated different areas of our Faith, most commonly in our convents and retreat centers. Many will lose their already frail Faith by empty promises that just may bring them misery instead. Mount Carmel Spiritual Centre has been a source of much holiness in the past, but now, it will be held responsible for this abomination that has entered into its walls. Mount Carmel will have to give an accounting before the Lord Himself for the scandal this will cause amongst the faithful and for enabling the shipwreck of souls that were redeemed by the Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. For, I fear, this ‘Effortless Living’ is only the beginning of the end…and an end brought on by those responsible for choosing the programs at Mt Carmel and by priests who are to offer sacrifice to God alone!

And to finish, I would love to share quotes that, I try to enflesh within my own life, are
from St John of the Cross, your own spiritual Doctor:

‘…I should not consider any spirituality worthwhile that would walk in sweetness and ease and run from the imitation of Christ…’ (The Ascent of Mount Carmel)

‘…the Beloved dwells secretly with an embrace so much the closer, more intimate, and interior, the purer and more alone the soul is to everything other than God…’ (The Living Flame of Love)

‘…To undertake the journey to God the heart must be burned and purified of all creatures with the fire of Divine love…’ (The Ascent of Mount Carmel)

Yeah I know what you mean. I condemned the Da Vinci Code movie and many of my sibs laughed at me. :crying: The media continues to harden their hearts much like that of Pharoah in Exodus. We know how that turned out don’t we?

 

[blessedstar]

Yes, he is always afoot.

We must fight, we must stand out from the crowd and most of all, we must not be afraid.

Don’t be worried about satan, set yourself, battle in prayer, lift high the Cross of Jesus and don’t be afraid.

In the Living Prayer of my life.

 

[InLight247]

This past Sunday’s Gospel
Lk 12:49-53

Jesus said to his disciples:
“I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division."

My Pastor said this past Sunday that anything we value in life we have to defend it.

Our faith in Jesus is the most valuable thing in life. We have to defend this faith.
The fire Jesus set on earth is the fire of truth, the fire of love and the fire of purifying.
It is a consuming fire we ought to bath ourselves in, and help it be blazing!

 

[tm30]

The anti-Christ has been afoot since Lucifer was cast down from heaven. Throughout history, he has made use of certain individuals to reveal his wickedness on a grand scale (Hitler, Herod, Nero, Stalin, etc.). On a lesser scale, he doggedly pursues each and everyone of us, “seeking the ruin of souls”, as the prayer of St.Michael says.

There will be more anti-Christs to come - more individuals who will willingly submit to the grand schemes of Satan - up until the climactic persecution of the Church and the subsequent Final Judgment of the damned.

 

[tee_eff_em]

I’ve wondered that with movies like Constantine’s Sword and Demons and Angels coming out, it makes me wonder is the man of sin afoot. I wonder why catholics are not stepping up to the plate and making counter movies that contradict such drivel. What do you think?

I would judge it is because making movies is not the primary means of spreading the Catholic faith (indeed, not even a significant means).

:twocents:
tee

 

[Leopard]

…is the man of sin afoot… Is the AntiChrist afoot?

I think he’s probably taller.

 

[johnstown_johnn]

The anti-Christ is often foreseen as a “syndrome” more than an individual. It (anti-Christ) is a permeation of evil within the norms of life in mankind.

That said, when we stop to look around on the evils of today it dwarfs any other time in man’s history.

 

[blessedstar]

I think he’s probably taller.

 

[tm30]

The anti-Christ is often foreseen as a “syndrome” more than an individual. It (anti-Christ) is a permeation of evil within the norms of life in mankind.

That said, when we stop to look around on the evils of today it dwarfs any other time in man’s history.

The evil of today is much more insidious than ever qualitatively, and goes to the heart of human existence in totality. But in terms of the QUANTITY of evil being perpetrated, I think it will be difficult to supercede the simultaneous work of Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin during WW II.

On the other hand, evil today is so technologically efficient, it can be masked as “progress”, e.g. when otherwise peaceable men and women support the killing of infants in the womb or support the creation of human beings solely for medical research.

So, I don’t think it’s the amount of evil that will herald the Final Judgment, but the quality of evil. When science and society put the entire world at risk of damnation by encroaching on God’s prerogative to create and end life, by banishing God from the hearts and minds of the public - by reaching for the apple that gives man the power to actually be their own gods… well… no one can say we weren’t warned in Genesis what not to do.

 

[Andruschak]

In my opinion…no

 

[Shoshana]

The evil of today is much more insidious than ever qualitatively, and goes to the heart of human existence in totality. But in terms of the QUANTITY of evil being perpetrated, I think it will be difficult to supercede the simultaneous work of Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin during WW II.

On the other hand, evil today is so technologically efficient, it can be masked as “progress”, e.g. when otherwise peaceable men and women support the killing of infants in the womb or support the creation of human beings solely for medical research.

So, I don’t think it’s the amount of evil that will herald the Final Judgment, but the quality of evil. When science and society put the entire world at risk of damnation by encroaching on God’s prerogative to create and end life, by banishing God from the hearts and minds of the public - by reaching for the apple that gives man the power to actually be their own gods… well… no one can say we weren’t warned in Genesis what not to do.

This kind of evil is overt…there is a greater evil that is engulfing christianity and this is New Age…it is infiltrated within most of our retreat centers and churches…and nobody seems to care. That is a great evil that is very covert…

 

[blessedstar]

This kind of evil is overt…there is a greater evil that is engulfing christianity and this is New Age…it is infiltrated within most of our retreat centers and churches…and nobody seems to care. That is a great evil that is very covert…

Yes it is and people seem to think it is good.

Keep up the good fight Shoshana, you are in my Living Prayer of life.

 

[Shoshana]

Yes it is and people seem to think it is good.

Keep up the good fight Shoshana, you are in my Living Prayer of life.

Thank you ever so much blessedstar…you are a balm to my soul! Tears have been flowing lately but Truth will prevail…

 

[TOP]

This kind of evil is overt…there is a greater evil that is engulfing christianity and this is New Age…it is infiltrated within most of our retreat centers and churches…and nobody seems to care. That is a great evil that is very covert…

I care. Never come across it ,but will cut it out like cancer when I do. Tim

 

[blessedstar]

I care. Never come across it ,but will cut it out like cancer when I do. Tim

That is a very profound statement Tim and I understand where you are coming from when you say that. I really like to read your posts, your heart on fire for Jesus is very tangible.

In my Living Prayer of life