Second Coming Prophecies

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I got something in the mail from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and it states:

"As we watch the upheaval and uncertainty in our world today, I believe the stage is gradually being set for the return of the King.

We all know that the Bible describes an eventual one-world financial system. As I write, President Bush is calling for a summit of world leaders to try to fix the current economic emergency. Never before have I seen such cooperation in financial matters on a global scale. Could the current economic crisis, so interconnected across the world, be moving us one small step toward that end?"

MY QUESTION: Where does the Bible describe this? Or is this a non-Catholic belief in the Bible?

Thank you for any help!
 
Bretton Woods was also a tremendous time of financial cooperation among governments. Don’t read too much into any one event that occurs as each day that passes brings us closer to Christ’s coming.

Remember, the Son of Man will come at an hour you least expect.
 
There has been lots of upheaval in the world for the last two thousand years (since our Lord was raised), and anyone of these tragic events’ has had someone predicting the end of the world. The ‘Son of Man’ did not know when the ‘end of this world’ was coming, why should we try to think that we have some better knowledge. Probably for most of us ‘the end’ will come with our own passing, and that could come like a thief in the night, so we should be prepared.
 
I understand we are not to know the time of the Second Coming…it’s mentioned in the Bible quite a bit and Jesus specifically said it. I was just curious if it is indeed described in the Bible as I don’t recall ever seeing it before. That’s all. I’m not trying to second guess when the time will be…just if it is indeed described like Billy Graham Association said. And if not, I wonder where they got that from? Just curious about other denominations. I’m 100% Catholic but enjoy learning about others…helps to know what others believe so we can witness to them! I’m aware most Protestants believe in the Rapture and we do not, etc.
 
papillon53 said:
I got something in the mail from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and it states:

"As we watch the upheaval and uncertainty in our world today, I believe the stage is gradually being set for the return of the King.

We all know that the Bible describes an eventual one-world financial system. As I write, President Bush is calling for a summit of world leaders to try to fix the current economic emergency. Never before have I seen such cooperation in financial matters on a global scale. Could the current economic crisis, so interconnected across the world, be moving us one small step toward that end?"

MY QUESTION: Where does the Bible describe this? Or is this a non-Catholic belief in the Bible?

Thank you for any help!
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It is not necessarily a non-Catholic belief, it could very well be interpreted that way from a Catholic perspective. One passage is found in Rev. 13:16-18
16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18 This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six.
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Here it shows that the Antichrist has control over everyone and their ability to purchase anything, which hints of a one world currency. I believe we are headed that way for sure, which does set the stage. I hope not, but it is very possible.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church appears to hint something like this
The persecution that accompanies her (the Church) pilgrimage on earth will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. the supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh. 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 judgement.
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When I read that I can’t help to see that the Antichrist is going to take advantage of a world wide economic depression and then offer a globalized Socialist form of government. First time in our Amercian history we have a government that will gladly join such a disaster.
 
Trying to definitively tie in current events to Bible prophecy is foolish and childish. People have been doing it for ages and have been proved wrong every single time. In the last 150 years or so, the foolish speculation has increased because of the ignorant dispensationalist theology that gets peddled to the ignorant and unstable and has even infected the average Catholic who doesn’t even realize it.

It is also the height of arrogance to think that any part of Sacred Scripture was meaningless for 2000 years of Christians, but was instead written only for us. Just in my lifetime, this “one world financial system” has been “definitively” identified as any number of things including the European Union. As soon as the latest newspaper comes out, it changes.

It is completely immature and irresponsible to even ***imply ***that this kind of specualtion has any validity at all and to encourage this type of foolishness. Tens of thousands of people have wasted their life in ignorantly speculating about these things and have in the process misled and frightened simple souls into believing them too.

To answer the OP’s question: This type of biblical interpretation is not Catholic. The Church is not into speculation based on current fads and news, titilating and sensationalistic as those things are for people, and as easy as it would be to make a buck off it, as Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye and their ilk have done many of millions of time over.

When the Church – who is the authentic interpreter of Sacred Scripture – starts setting dates and naming names, then I’ll worry.
 
Fidelis said:
Trying to definitively tie in current events to Bible prophecy is foolish and childish. People have been doing it for ages and have been proved wrong every single time. In the last 150 years or so, the foolish speculation has increased because of the ignorant dispensationalist theology that gets peddled to the ignorant and unstable and has even infected the average Catholic who doesn’t even realize it.

It is also the height of arrogance to think that any part of Sacred Scripture was meaningless for 2000 years of Christians, but was instead written only for us. Just in my lifetime, this “one world financial system” has been “definitively” identified as any number of things including the European Union. As soon as the latest newspaper comes out, it changes.

It is completely immature and irresponsible to even ***imply ***that this kind of specualtion has any validity at all and to encourage this type of foolishness. Tens of thousands of people have wasted their life in ignorantly speculating about these things and have in the process misled and frightened simple souls into believing them too.

To answer the OP’s question: This type of biblical interpretation is not Catholic. The Church is not into speculation based on current fads and news, titilating and sensationalistic as those things are for people, and as easy as it would be to make a buck off it, as Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye and their ilk have done many of millions of time over.

When the Church – who is the authentic interpreter of Sacred Scripture – starts setting dates and naming names, then I’ll worry.
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I don’t recall anything on this thread as speculating dates or naming names, I think you are being hypersensitive to so-called “prophesy preachers” who do use scare tactics for various reasons. Now in this thread the topic is about a one-world government of the Antichrist, which is not just a wacko interpretation, but it is sound Biblical thought. And there is nothing wrong with asking the question of “is the stage being set?” Regardless if this is the final stage, it could be, but if it is not then the signs are there that there is a serious push for a globalize socialist form of government, which is dangerous to the sovereignty of our country. I keep up with the politics of the day and I know for a fact that we have a lot of leadership in our government that has that on their agenda, the global warming agenda is part of that agenda.

I think oftentimes Catholics will take a too hands-off approach to prophesy out of fear that they might be thinking too Protestant. It is very Biblical and traditional and Catholic to look for the coming of Christ, it keeps you on your toes. If more Catholics would think for just a moment that Christ was on His way maybe we could be more effective and less sluggish spreading the Word to the world, just maybe Catholics would start to listen to the teachings of the Church and stop acting like non-Christians.
 
I was on the bus today doing some errands when I go a glimpse of a sign. I hope and pray that I’m wrong on what it said. But I believe it said: “One Nation Earth.”
 
COPLAND_3 said:
I think oftentimes Catholics will take a too hands-off approach to prophesy out of fear that they might be thinking too Protestant. It is very Biblical and traditional and Catholic to look for the coming of Christ, it keeps you on your toes. If more Catholics would think for just a moment that Christ was on His way maybe we could be more effective and less sluggish spreading the Word to the world, just maybe Catholics would start to listen to the teachings of the Church and stop acting like non-Christians.
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You might check out the “End Times Speculation” thread that’s in the “Back Fence” forum. You can start with this thread, which was closed when it reached 1000 posts, and is continued in this thread.

One reason I’ve enjoyed discussing this topic is that it’s given me a focus for my scripture study. Rather than just reading random sections from the Bible, I’m reading specific books, learning just how so much of Old Testament writings refer to the End Times (without calling it that.) Right now I’m working through 1st Macc. and finding some terrifying and wondrous parallels to our day.

<><
 
Second Coming of Christ: maybe he is here, maybe Christ walks amoung us. Just as he walked with the apostles after his resurrection and he did so without them knowing who he was, until their eyes were open.
I know this; many are blind even as they speak of having faith in Jesus Christ. For having faith is a two edged sword. It cuts both ways. You may have faith, but your senses have been dulled. Dulled by the politics of men. Men who use the the teachings of Christ to gain power over men to destroy nations. Islamist extremist call on God to grant them glory as the blow themselves up. They slap the face of God by taking the life or lives which God gives. Maybe, these things are happening cause Christ is here.
 
Ron_Conte said:
my article on the year of Christ’s return:
catholicplanet.com/future/Christ-Returns-2437.htm

my article on the teaching of some of the Saints and Blesseds about the timing of the arrival of the Antichrist, in order to explain the reasons why the Antichrist cannot possibly be in the world today.
catholicplanet.com/future/antichrist-timeline.htm
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That’s absolutely ridiculous. Anybody who thinks they know when the second coming is needs serious medical help!
 
Why is it not possible for Christ to be among us? are you God the Father? ye have little faith!
Did not the gospel tell us that He will destroy the web of nations? Isn’t that what happened to the banks, the web of nations. By who’s authority did you arrive at that date? So many people are blind by their own egos. The promise for which Christ return is a broken foundation. For that foundation was made from corruptible men. So it is that Christ return is to rebuild that foundation, to start a new beginning and do away with the old to set anew, with his Spirit in accordance with God’s will. I have all the faith in the world that God’s Word is at hand.
 
No offense, but I’ve always wondered why people feel compelled to waste so much time on this type of fruitless speculation. If it’s not the Protestants with their “End Times” it’s Catholics with their “Great Tribulation.” Since individuals have no authority to definitively interpret any passage of Scripture, it has no value to anyone besides themselves.

The Book of Revelation especially has been the object of this type of vain musing for hundreds of years – everyone with a Bible and a lot of time on their hand seems like they have some inspired insight into apocalyptic events that no one else has ever had and that they all have to share with everyone else. The same Bible and the same Holy Spirit and you get 1,000 different interpretations! What’s up with that?! 🤷

It’s stuff like this that gives Bible reading a bad name – to me it’s the Christian “adult” equivalent of ghost stories and conspiracy theories about UFO’s and Sasquatch. I’m 50 years old and I’ve heard so many conflicting “Scripture interpretations” on this I’m convinced that everyone has one (just like a certain part of the anatomy). Well, all of these people have one other thing in common --they have all been WRONG.

Yet people continue to fruitlessly speculate…

Not angry or judgemental – Just my :twocents:
 
No offense, but I’ve always wondered why people feel compelled to waste so much time on this type of fruitless speculation.
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Me, too, Fidelis.

It’s not phrased as a command, but Jesus repeated that we will not know enough times that it should be obvious that it is fruitless to speculate.

Ah, but, as another poster said, I don’t change people; only God can.

God bless us all,

Ruthie
 
papillon53 said:
I got something in the mail from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and it states:

"As we watch the upheaval and uncertainty in our world today, I believe the stage is gradually being set for the return of the King.

We all know that the Bible describes an eventual one-world financial system.
Click to expand...

It does no such thing - this piece of nonsense is the result of identifying “the mark of the beast” as a microchip or some such thing. Since the Book of Revelation was not concerned with anything whatever in the year 2009, the interpretation is worthless. This fooleries make a very good reason for restricting the availability of the Bible to those who will not abuse it.​

Astonishing as it may seem to some, the USA is not mentioned in Revelation, or anywhere else in the Bible. It is sheer navel-gazing conceit to imagine that the USA is so important that God must have mentioned it in the Bible. 😦
As I write, President Bush is calling for a summit of world leaders to try to fix the current economic emergency. Never before have I seen such cooperation in financial matters on a global scale. Could the current economic crisis, so interconnected across the world, be moving us one small step toward that end?"

MY QUESTION: Where does the Bible describe this? Or is this a non-Catholic belief in the Bible?

Thank you for any help!
Click to expand...

Most of that is an explanation, by fitting realities known in the world to the Bible, of why it is believed that the Second Coming is near.​

Take no notice of it. People are forever imagining that the end is just round the corner - they’ve been doing it for over 2,000 years, & will be doing it over 2,000 years from now.

Unfortunately there is a segment of Christianity, particularly strong in the US, that obsesses over working out “prophetic schemes” of the end-times & similar rubbish. 😦 The rate of failure of predictions & date settings is 100 % - so we can be absolutely certain the world will be here as usual in 2013, & in 2017, & after every other date that has been given for the end. These people are saps & liars, & deserve not a glimmer of credit nor a penny of anyone’s money. If I had my way, these liars & frauds would all go to gaol; they are a public nuisance, with their alarmist nonsense about Middle Eastern politics. Unfortunately they are not confined to the US. 😦 :eek:

Just for the record: there has always been “upheaval and uncertainty in [the] world”, & always will be - that is the nature of life in the world.
 
I agree that the idea of a microchip being the mark of the beast (or RFID chips, or bar codes, etc.) is incorrect. We are not living in the time of the Antichrist:
catholicplanet.com/future/antichrist-timeline.htm
“This article will examine the teaching of some of the Saints and Blesseds about the timing of the arrival of the Antichrist, in order to explain the reasons why the Antichrist cannot possibly be in the world today.”

As for the idea of a one world financial system, this is more or less correct. The Antichrist, when he eventually arrives in the distant future, will have control over nearly the whole world; this implies a unified government and most probably a unified financial system (though there still may be mulitple currencies and much complexity). And this passage supports the idea also:

{13:17} so that no one may buy or sell, unless he has the character, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

But I think that it is possible to know the dates and events of the future, especially pertaining to the tribulation.
 
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