Jesus: When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?

[livingwordunity]

I think that when Jesus asked the question in Luke 18:8 it was another way of letting us know that there would be a great apostasy just before the Second Coming. And it seems that Jesus put it in the form of a question as an invitation for us to think about it.

The Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge (Luke 18)

1 And he told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man; 3 and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Vindicate me against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Cross-reference that with

The Seven Seals (Revelation 6)

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne; 10 they cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before thou wilt judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?” 11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

And cross-reference with

Matthew 24:22

“And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.”

 

[mikekle]

I think God will send a great deception, or grand delusion, Im pretty sure there are verses that talk about this, and ALOT of people will fall away and suddenly deny their faith.

Im not sure about the days being shortened, Ive heard that before but have no clue how our days could be shortened, unless God speeds up the rotation of the earth, then a day could be less than 24 hours, but I have a feeling this is not what he is talking about.

 

[pianistclare]

I think God will send a great deception, or grand delusion, Im pretty sure there are verses that talk about this, and ALOT of people will fall away and suddenly deny their faith.

Im not sure about the days being shortened, Ive heard that before but have no clue how our days could be shortened, unless God speeds up the rotation of the earth, then a day could be less than 24 hours, but I have a feeling this is not what he is talking about.

It probably refers to the fact that people tend to put off getting “right” with God.
When you run out of time, there’s no “oopsie” big enough.

There will always be believers.
Unfortunately, the non-believers we will always have with us.

 

[7_Sorrows]

Yes I believe when Jesus returns He will find people that have faith.
He will also find those who have no faith.

 

[fred_conty]

I think God will send a great deception, or grand delusion, Im pretty sure there are verses that talk about this, and ALOT of people will fall away and suddenly deny their faith.

Im not sure about the days being shortened, Ive heard that before but have no clue how our days could be shortened, unless God speeds up the rotation of the earth, then a day could be less than 24 hours, but I have a feeling this is not what he is talking about.

I don’t think it means that the day(24 hours) will be shortened, but that the number of days of this desolation will be shortened, like from 90 to 20 days, or whatever.

And I also think that when people fall away it will be in a way that is rather tricky, not just a black and white decision, but a very emotional and pulling time. It will cloud the mind with confusion with just what is right and what is wrong, with many compelling ideas to attrack one away. Probably many people we know will try and draw us away because they are sold on the wrong people to follow. It won’t be clean and neat like the martyrs. And it won’t be easy to follow the church since many in the church will be as confused as everyone else. And it will be equally confusing as to who to follow since there may be many popes saying that they are the true pope.

And that is why the days will be shortened, so that even the faithful good might have a chance at persevering that they wouldn’t otherwise have if those days were not shortened.

Just an opinion…

 

[livingwordunity]

I think God will send a great deception, or grand delusion, Im pretty sure there are verses that talk about this, and ALOT of people will fall away and suddenly deny their faith.

Im not sure about the days being shortened, Ive heard that before but have no clue how our days could be shortened, unless God speeds up the rotation of the earth, then a day could be less than 24 hours, but I have a feeling this is not what he is talking about.

I have no doubt that we are in the era of the great apostasy and the strong delusion. The Protestant revolution was like a minor apostasy since it rejected the Church but not God. Then came the so-called “Enlightenment” and modernism which rejected not just the Church but God, too. Pope St. Pius X called modernism “the synthesis of all heresies.” Pope Paul VI said he had a feeling that the “smoke of Satan” is in the Church. Pope St. John Paul II has called modern society a “culture of death.” And Pope Benedict XVI called it a “dictatorship of relativism.”

 

[livingwordunity]

Pope Francis: Faith is never a private matter (28 November 2013)

At this time of the liturgical year, the Pope continued, “the Church turns our thoughts to the end of this world, since it will come to and end, for the world as we know it is passing away”. The Gospel tells us that “all these things will occur”, but, he asked, how long must we wait? In St Luke (cf 21:20-28) we hear: “until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled”. For, he said, “even the pagans have a fullness of time … they have a kairós, the final triumph: the destruction of Jerusalem”. In the Gospel of St Luke we read: “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Lk 21:25-26).

“It is a calamity,” the Pope said. “However, when Jesus speaks of this calamity in another passage, he tells us that it will be a profanation of the temple, a profanation of the faith, of the people. It will be an abomination. It will be the abomination of desolation (Dan 9:27). What does this mean? It will appear to be the triumph of the prince of this world, the defeat of God. It will seem, in that final moment of calamity, as though he has taken over the world” and has become “master of the world”.

Pope Francis then explained how “this battle between the living God and the prince of this world” can also be traced out in the first Reading from the Book of Daniel (6:12-28). Essentially, he said, “Daniel is condemned only for worshipping, for worshipping God. And the abomination of desolation is called prohibition against worship”.

The Pope then explained, “in that time one could not speak about religion: it was a private matter”. Religious symbols were removed and taken down, and the people had to obey the orders that came from “worldly powers”. The worship of God was forbidden. This was “the kairós of this pagan attitude”. But “when this time is fulfilled, then He will come”, as we read in the Gospel, “then they will see the Son of man coming in the cloud with power and great glory”.

The word of God reminds us, he said, how “Christians that suffer through times of persecution, through times when worship is prohibited, are a prophetic sign of what will happen to everyone”. However, precisely in moments such as these, when the times of the pagans are being fulfilled, “raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near”.

(Read more)

 

[livingwordunity]

Msgr. Charles Pope: Are These the “Outer Bands” of a Coming Judgment?

So, using the Spirit’s caution through St. Paul, we do well not to conclude too quickly that the end is close at hand, though Christ can surely come anyway “on a sudden.”

However, the same text from St. Paul does describe certain things that precede the end—things that are more clearly in place today.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work … in those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thess 2:10-12).

Now we are clearly living in an age when strong delusion has come upon many. Indeed many seem deeply and profoundly confused as to the basic concepts of human sexuality, the existence of God, and the dignity of human life. Strong delusion is required for the human person to justify the killing of innocent children in the womb. Strong delusion is required for a human person to think that homosexual acts are natural, when any look at the design of the body profoundly indicates otherwise. Strong delusion is required for a human person to think that suicide is to be praised and is even “courageous.” Strong delusion is required for a person to look at a world that is so clearly designed and governed, and ascribe it all to mindless, blind, totally random mutation.

Indeed a strong delusion is upon many today. Elsewhere, St. Paul also says of those deluded in this way (especially in matters of homosexuality),

But they became vain in their thinking and their foolish minds were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools… Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error (Rom 1:21,26-27).

So it is clear today that the initial requirements for the coming of the lawless one are increasingly in place. A strong delusion has come upon many that will usher in a rebellion and cause the lawless one to be widely accepted. For again, as St. Paul said above, for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first.

And the text speaks of the cause for this delusion. On a human level, the delusion and rebellion result from that fact that, as St. Paul says, they refused to love the truth and so be saved … [they] did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

(Read more)​

 

[mikekle]

I don’t think it means that the day(24 hours) will be shortened, but that the number of days of this desolation will be shortened, like from 90 to 20 days, or whatever.

And I also think that when people fall away it will be in a way that is rather tricky, not just a black and white decision, but a very emotional and pulling time. It will cloud the mind with confusion with just what is right and what is wrong, with many compelling ideas to attrack one away. Probably many people we know will try and draw us away because they are sold on the wrong people to follow. It won’t be clean and neat like the martyrs. And it won’t be easy to follow the church since many in the church will be as confused as everyone else. And it will be equally confusing as to who to follow since there may be many popes saying that they are the true pope.

And that is why the days will be shortened, so that even the faithful good might have a chance at persevering that they wouldn’t otherwise have if those days were not shortened.

Just an opinion…

OH, I agree, Ive always thought that whatever the great deception turns out to be, it will HAVE to be something very clever, it will have to be something that ALOT of people will ‘fall’ for, that includes the very intelligent people among us.

Imo, I think it will be ‘alien related’, I think at some time in the near future, mankind will discover we are not alone in the universe, and these ‘aliens’ will be able to shock and awe us with what will probably be very convincing proof they were the ones that seeded the earth long ago, and therefore, they are our ‘gods’…of course many many people will be fooled and start worshiping them, Id say it will go as far as Govts making any other religions illegal, they will say, we have definite proof of who created us now, so to worship anything else, would be blasphemy.

But there wont actually be any real extraterrestrial beings involved, it will ALL be false.

Furthermore, Id say the plans are probably already in the pipelines for this deception, they are just waiting for the right time to iniate.