We cannot ignore the teachings and the writings of the Church Fathers. They all say the AC is not a symbolic representation or an abstract idea. The AC is a human being who comes near the end of time to deceive the elect.
The ONLY exception amongst the BIG Fathers was St. Augustine, who said that Nero was the AC. He was the only one who said this. All of the Fathers must be in agreement, so this is generally ignored.
Anyway, the first who will be deceived, according to the prophecies of the Church Fathers, will be the Jews. The AC will be of Jewish descent and will be a false Jewish Messiah.
The other people to be deceived will be the Gentile peoples, including some Catholics. This will be some sort of religious deception. The AC will be granted powers of a fallen angel, so he’ll seem like … I don’t know … Imhotep in The Mummy movies.
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma by Ludwigg Ott says there are specific signs that must be fulfilled before the Parousia. About 2/3 to 3/4 of these signs are fulfilled.
Off the top of my head, the signs are:
- Tribulations the likes of which the world has never seen, both spiritual trials and changes in the earth, i.e. earthquakes, etc…
- A great falling away of faith directly related to the deception of the AC
- An end of the age of the Gentiles (that is, all the predestinate of the Gentiles is fulfilled).
- Universal conversion of the Jews as related to the appearance of Enoch and Elijah, the two witnesses, who will find the Ark of the Covenant and consecrate the Eucharist upon it. They come during the 3.5 year reign of the AC to oppose him.
- Revealing of the Man of Sin.
- The end of time comes sometime after that.
(For your benefit, I’ll try to remember to look these signs up tomorrow and post them here).
Now, according to prophecy, the biggest being Fatima, between number 1 and number 2 above is the Era of Peace governed by the Great Monarch in unison with Peter II.
With regards to the Era of Peace … it will come when the Ark of Salvation, the Church, is docked between the pillar of Eucharistic devotion and true devotion to Mary. (St John Don Bosco).
And we won’t have an Era of Peace until Russia is converted. I will not say whether or not I believe it’s been properly consecrated, but I can say that Russia is not a Catholic country and is not converted.
I mean, just look at her, for goodness sake! What is the statistic … something like 70% – or is it 90% of Russian women have had abortions. Russia is dying because they’re aborting their children, and I’ve even read that they’ve organized youth camps for the purpose of promoting reproduction!
Russia is in very dire straights. Alcoholism and drug abuse is rampant. It’s really a HUGE problem there. This country does not appear converted.
And as far as Communism dying … I don’t buy it. In fact, I came across a Communist Manifesto that listed, as part of a grand plan, a false falling of Communism, so as to take over a decadent West who’d grown complacent, thinking Communism dead. Could be just a conspiracy theory though … I will admit this.
Anyway, the key is Russia.
No conversion of Russia, no Era of Peace.
But … I did come across some information that the Era of Peace is non-conditional, that it would happen, one way or another. That is, Russia can be converted the easy way, through us, or God can force it to happen through the execution of Divine Justice. Me? I prefer the easy way.
So please,
pray for the conversion of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II, the only Orthodox Patriarch to oppose the proposal to end the schism with Rome. Pray for the conversion of Russia.
God Bless!
Mary Ann