Will You Accept the Mark of the Beast

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The Apocolypse isn’t so much about the devil getting us. It’s more so about illustrating Christ’s work ALREADY COMPLETED. It’s the manual on how The LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD - IS REIGNING AS EUCHARISTIC KING! Simply put, the Apocolypse is the “IT IS FINISHED” book that describes THE war of ALL wars - the war between good and evil a.k.a. spiritual warfare, that existed since the time of Genesis - and it’s timeless - because its the war we find ourselves in to this very day. BUT - those who partake of THE LAMB OF GOD - are illustrated as victorious and so the Eucharist, THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD is the “IT IS FINISHED” Meal. All things are made new in this Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

I said previously that the Eucharist is the answer…and I meant it. It is the Alpha and the Omega. It is the Beginning and the End. It is Genesis and Apocolypse. Because the Bible isn’t just a bunch of words written down in a book or a quote to be used here and there to justify ones own position. This is the WORD of GOD…and this Word can be summed up in a single WORD…Jesus. (That’s kind of a hack at a Fr. Corapi quote…lol).

From the beginning - Genesis - and throughout the Old Testament - we see where the family of God constantly broke ties with Our Father through disobedience of one form or another. And being a good Father, He faithfully restored our relationship with Him time and time again through covenantal oaths. Animal sacrifices were made to atone for the sins of the Israelites. In the New Testament - God Himself showed all peoples the WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE. HE became the perfect sacrifice, and in the Apocolypse, the END, the “IT IS FINISHED” book we see how through ALL the books of the Bible, it is all MADE NEW and culminates in this “IT IS FINISHED” book.

It isn’t all about some CHIP inserted into your body. But choosing to believe it IS some CHIP inserted into your body or overt the real meaning of the Apocolypse so you can overlook the obvious message the Apocolypse is trying to state, if not the mark of the beast itself, is at the very least a victory of the antichrist.

The Apocolypse says through the title of the book itself, that IT IS FINISHED! THE WAR IS ALREADY WON! Yes, there are outlying battles still waging, and yes the dragon is still out there trying to claim souls. But the Church is the outpost of the Kingdom of God - Heaven. And the sustaining nourishment we have in these lingering battles are described in the Apocolypse - that is, the Eucharist. Whatever the mark of the beast may or may not be, who cares. Because if your heart, soul, and mind are right, the Eucharist will have marked YOU.

Protestants - self made popes - break this apocolyptic language down - prostituting it to support their own lost sense of Christianity. And the SHAME of it all, is that it has infected some GOOD Catholics here and how they read scripture. DO NOT TRY TO MAKE YOURSELF POPES!

A former protestant minister, Prof. Scott Hahn, use to do that. After much study of scripture, he converted to Catholicism back in the 80’s and man - this guy is amazing if you haven’t ever heard of him. He has written a book called “The Lamb’s Supper”. This book unlocks what the Apocolypse means in light of Church teaching and not some self interpreted hack of it - the spirit of which has infected Christianity as a whole. I bite my tongue as I say this, but since I have faith that the Roman Catholic Church is the Bride of Christ - ironically opposed to her is the real whore of Babylon. Within this ‘church’ stands detractors and accusers of the Church of Rome labelling it as being the whore. I think many a peeps will be shocked at who the whore really is.

To overlook the whole Bible for one book, or one passage in the book of the Apocolypse to analyze - is exactly what protestants do. If anything…and in the least - THAT is the part of the spirit of the antichrist. Declaring oneself a pope. Don’t get caught up in self authoritative views of Scripture by yourself or others because they ‘feel’ right. Authorizing yourself or believing anyone other than the Church itself, is PART OF THE SPIRIT OF THE ANTICHRIST. Those who are not with Christ, are against Christ. And THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH - is the only Church where Christ can be experienced MOST fully.

It’s time to man up and be fully the child of God in the Church Christ instituted. Don’t deform it any longer.
 
luke1_28 said:
The Apocolypse isn’t so much about the devil getting us. It’s more so about illustrating Christ’s work ALREADY COMPLETED. It’s the manual on how The LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD - IS REIGNING AS EUCHARISTIC KING! Simply put, the Apocolypse is the “IT IS FINISHED” book that describes THE war of ALL wars - the war between good and evil a.k.a. spiritual warfare, that existed since the time of Genesis - and it’s timeless - because its the war we find ourselves in to this very day. BUT - those who partake of THE LAMB OF GOD - are illustrated as victorious and so the Eucharist, THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD is the “IT IS FINISHED” Meal. All things are made new in this Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

I said previously that the Eucharist is the answer…and I meant it. It is the Alpha and the Omega. It is the Beginning and the End. It is Genesis and Apocolypse. Because the Bible isn’t just a bunch of words written down in a book or a quote to be used here and there to justify ones own position. This is the WORD of GOD…and this Word can be summed up in a single WORD…Jesus. (That’s kind of a hack at a Fr. Corapi quote…lol).

From the beginning - Genesis - and throughout the Old Testament - we see where the family of God constantly broke ties with Our Father through disobedience of one form or another. And being a good Father, He faithfully restored our relationship with Him time and time again through covenantal oaths. Animal sacrifices were made to atone for the sins of the Israelites. In the New Testament - God Himself showed all peoples the WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE. HE became the perfect sacrifice, and in the Apocolypse, the END, the “IT IS FINISHED” book we see how through ALL the books of the Bible, it is all MADE NEW and culminates in this “IT IS FINISHED” book.

It isn’t all about some CHIP inserted into your body. But choosing to believe it IS some CHIP inserted into your body or overt the real meaning of the Apocolypse so you can overlook the obvious message the Apocolypse is trying to state, if not the mark of the beast itself, is at the very least a victory of the antichrist.

The Apocolypse says through the title of the book itself, that IT IS FINISHED! THE WAR IS ALREADY WON! Yes, there are outlying battles still waging, and yes the dragon is still out there trying to claim souls. But the Church is the outpost of the Kingdom of God - Heaven. And the sustaining nourishment we have in these lingering battles are described in the Apocolypse - that is, the Eucharist. Whatever the mark of the beast may or may not be, who cares. Because if your heart, soul, and mind are right, the Eucharist will have marked YOU.

Protestants - self made popes - break this apocolyptic language down - prostituting it to support their own lost sense of Christianity. And the SHAME of it all, is that it has infected some GOOD Catholics here and how they read scripture. DO NOT TRY TO MAKE YOURSELF POPES!

A former protestant minister, Prof. Scott Hahn, use to do that. After much study of scripture, he converted to Catholicism back in the 80’s and man - this guy is amazing if you haven’t ever heard of him. He has written a book called “The Lamb’s Supper”. This book unlocks what the Apocolypse means in light of Church teaching and not some self interpreted hack of it - the spirit of which has infected Christianity as a whole. I bite my tongue as I say this, but since I have faith that the Roman Catholic Church is the Bride of Christ - ironically opposed to her is the real whore of Babylon. Within this ‘church’ stands detractors and accusers of the Church of Rome labelling it as being the whore. I think many a peeps will be shocked at who the whore really is.

To overlook the whole Bible for one book, or one passage in the book of the Apocolypse to analyze - is exactly what protestants do. If anything…and in the least - THAT is the part of the spirit of the antichrist. Declaring oneself a pope. Don’t get caught up in self authoritative views of Scripture by yourself or others because they ‘feel’ right. Authorizing yourself or believing anyone other than the Church itself, is PART OF THE SPIRIT OF THE ANTICHRIST. Those who are not with Christ, are against Christ. And THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH - is the only Church where Christ can be experienced MOST fully.

It’s time to man up and be fully the child of God in the Church Christ instituted. Don’t deform it any longer.
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I can tell you’re a know it all and a jock, cuz you’re here with an axe to grind, to just educate everybody on how little they know.

That is to be expected. Jocks have big muscles, it is just their brains that are small and simple.
 
hey, luke1-28,

did you know that most ECFs believed the apocalypse was about the ages of the Church?

They were much closer to Jesus than Scott Hahn.

Scott, the gleeful person in wonderland, likes to focus on all the sugar and spice of the apocalypse, to the detriment of the fallen nature. When he does address the negative aspects of the book, he usually relegates them to frivoloous things of the first century.

I wish Father Rutler would give Hahn a good kick in his rear.
 
luke1_28 said:
The Apocolypse isn’t so much about the devil getting us. It’s more so about illustrating Christ’s work ALREADY COMPLETED. It’s the manual on how The LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD - IS REIGNING AS EUCHARISTIC KING! Simply put, the Apocolypse is the “IT IS FINISHED” book that describes THE war of ALL wars - the war between good and evil a.k.a. spiritual warfare, that existed since the time of Genesis - and it’s timeless - because its the war we find ourselves in to this very day. BUT - those who partake of THE LAMB OF GOD - are illustrated as victorious and so the Eucharist, THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD is the “IT IS FINISHED” Meal. All things are made new in this Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

I said previously that the Eucharist is the answer…and I meant it. It is the Alpha and the Omega. It is the Beginning and the End. It is Genesis and Apocolypse. Because the Bible isn’t just a bunch of words written down in a book or a quote to be used here and there to justify ones own position. This is the WORD of GOD…and this Word can be summed up in a single WORD…Jesus. (That’s kind of a hack at a Fr. Corapi quote…lol).

From the beginning - Genesis - and throughout the Old Testament - we see where the family of God constantly broke ties with Our Father through disobedience of one form or another. And being a good Father, He faithfully restored our relationship with Him time and time again through covenantal oaths. Animal sacrifices were made to atone for the sins of the Israelites. In the New Testament - God Himself showed all peoples the WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE. HE became the perfect sacrifice, and in the Apocolypse, the END, the “IT IS FINISHED” book we see how through ALL the books of the Bible, it is all MADE NEW and culminates in this “IT IS FINISHED” book.

It isn’t all about some CHIP inserted into your body. But choosing to believe it IS some CHIP inserted into your body or overt the real meaning of the Apocolypse so you can overlook the obvious message the Apocolypse is trying to state, if not the mark of the beast itself, is at the very least a victory of the antichrist.

The Apocolypse says through the title of the book itself, that IT IS FINISHED! THE WAR IS ALREADY WON! Yes, there are outlying battles still waging, and yes the dragon is still out there trying to claim souls. But the Church is the outpost of the Kingdom of God - Heaven. And the sustaining nourishment we have in these lingering battles are described in the Apocolypse - that is, the Eucharist. Whatever the mark of the beast may or may not be, who cares. Because if your heart, soul, and mind are right, the Eucharist will have marked YOU.

Protestants - self made popes - break this apocolyptic language down - prostituting it to support their own lost sense of Christianity. And the SHAME of it all, is that it has infected some GOOD Catholics here and how they read scripture. DO NOT TRY TO MAKE YOURSELF POPES!

A former protestant minister, Prof. Scott Hahn, use to do that. After much study of scripture, he converted to Catholicism back in the 80’s and man - this guy is amazing if you haven’t ever heard of him. He has written a book called “The Lamb’s Supper”. This book unlocks what the Apocolypse means in light of Church teaching and not some self interpreted hack of it - the spirit of which has infected Christianity as a whole. I bite my tongue as I say this, but since I have faith that the Roman Catholic Church is the Bride of Christ - ironically opposed to her is the real whore of Babylon. Within this ‘church’ stands detractors and accusers of the Church of Rome labelling it as being the whore. I think many a peeps will be shocked at who the whore really is.

To overlook the whole Bible for one book, or one passage in the book of the Apocolypse to analyze - is exactly what protestants do. If anything…and in the least - THAT is the part of the spirit of the antichrist. Declaring oneself a pope. Don’t get caught up in self authoritative views of Scripture by yourself or others because they ‘feel’ right. Authorizing yourself or believing anyone other than the Church itself, is PART OF THE SPIRIT OF THE ANTICHRIST. Those who are not with Christ, are against Christ. And THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH - is the only Church where Christ can be experienced MOST fully.

It’s time to man up and be fully the child of God in the Church Christ instituted. Don’t deform it any longer.
Click to expand...
O brother, another soapbox member! :rolleyes:

You are probably the type of person that is always right in your mind, even when you don’t fully know what you are talking about.
 
kinja said:
I respect that interpretation but I don’t buy it really. I think that fear of an actual apocalyptic scenario has fuelled all sorts of interpretations of revelations but I think that there will be a final reckonning on this earth where everyone will have to make a clear choice between God or Satan’s way. The satanic world view has been slowly creeping into our midst through the mass media and through our acceptance of anti-christian philosophies and lifestyles. History always repeats itself and the persecution of christians in ancient times in a legislative sense is coming sometime down the road. Just like Daniel explained what dreams and visions meant in reality, so did Jesus and and the meaning of John’s visions was explained to him as well. I would not say that because we can’t fully make sense of it that it must all be figurative language necessarily. Some refers to the physical world and some of it spiritual concepts.
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I agree with everything you said except the part of making sense of it. I believe it is a revelation that has happened, is happening, and is yet to be complete in time and history.
How it is happening doesn’t elude us but I do agree with you, how it will complete it’self in time is a mystery. IMO
 
It has always been my understanding (from Catholic bible commentaries) that apocalyptic literature, such as the Books of Daniel and Revelation, was written PRIMARILY to encourage people during a time of great hardship or persecution. They are written in a cryptic and heavily symbolic style intended to be confusing to outsiders – kind of like coded messages being passed to a resistance movement hiding out in enemy territory.

In the case of Revelation, it was written to Christian communities suffering intense persecution under the Emperor Domitian, who was just as bad as Nero in many ways and had come to be regarded as a “reincarnation” of him. Hence the elaborate symbolism regarding the number of the beast (which most scholars agree points to Nero) and the beast coming back from the dead after being killed, etc.

As with any truly inspired work of literature (either in the artistic or in the theological sense), the main message of Revelation – don’t be discouraged by persecution or hardship, because Christ WILL win in the end – resonates with Christians of all times and places, even if every single detail doesn’t match up with a historical figure or event. Above all, it is meant to encourage its readers, not frighten them.
 
O brother, another soapbox member!

Spot on. I’m caught.

You are probably the type of person that is always right in your mind, even when you don’t fully know what you are talking about.

No. I am wrong. You are right. And you fully know everything about everything. I digress.

Thank you.

God bless,
luke1_28
 
Sorry–i think i posted this techno-incorrect: i read all the debates and they are well thought out. There are too many factors in play in responses, in my opinion. I believe that God is very singular–and that means our management of what we believe we KNOW about God-and interpreting the Word (NT) --Word also meaning Jesus, as the Word JN1-3, needs to take a rest. What do we NEED to know? This is just an opinion.

If the Holy Spirit wanted to disclose HimSelf without thought, there would be no Book of Revelations. I believe it is the final exam for the test: Do you genuinely submit yourselves to the Seven Holy Sacraments, where all answers are found, or do you need ‘more?’ The question is one of submission v confirmed comprehension. Pride is the first of all sins. Pride includes some unfathomable interpretation that was not fulfilled on the Holy Cross of Christ. Study Christ Crucified–including Our Mother Mary and the the sinners who were faithful at the expense of their own peril and all answers will bloom. l, mb123
 
JACQUE_D said:
I have checked with my husband, and we both agree that we wouldn’t accept the mark in any form. Of course we would expect the Church to be fully aware of anything untoward happening in this world, and instruct us accordingly.
In God we trust.
Jacqueline in New Zealand.
👍
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Sorry I missed this post. Sums it up nicely. Even though I believe the chip in the hand is a distraction, (notice how the enterpretation tails the technology and how the authority people give it increases as the technology solidifies) if the Church were to teach that it was the mark of the beast and to not accept it, I would not accept it.
 
luke1_28 said:
O brother, another soapbox member!

Spot on. I’m caught.

You are probably the type of person that is always right in your mind, even when you don’t fully know what you are talking about.

No. I am wrong. You are right. And you fully know everything about everything. I digress.

Thank you.

God bless,
luke1_28
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I am asking forgiveness, Luke1_28, I was out of line. I have suffered from frustration in recent days.

Please forgive me, and everything you said is legitimate in its own right, I am only concerned that in addtion to Scott Hahn’s layer of meaning, there is the idea that the apocalypse also veils the spiritual ages of salvation history and of the Church.

Again, asking pardon, seriously.

scott
😦
 
spauline said:
I am asking forgiveness, Luke1_28, I was out of line. I have suffered from frustration in recent days.

Please forgive me, and everything you said is legitimate in its own right, I am only concerned that in addtion to Scott Hahn’s layer of meaning, there is the idea that the apocalypse also veils the spiritual ages of salvation history and of the Church.

Again, asking pardon, seriously.

scott
😦
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You are forgiven. I apologize for my reaction too. My response may have been somewhat sarcastic as I was a bit upset 😉 and my original intention of not responding at all fell to the wayside. So…I am sorry too. However, I am making progress as a recovering sinner! 👍 Because what I felt like responding with didn’t flow through my fingertips as in days of old…wow was I rude!😊

My point was that there is too much complexity in this book of the Apocalypse (or for that matter, any book of the Bible) to translate its meaning on our own - as laymen. However, the good news I was merely trying to convey, was that we don’t have to! The very ministry of the Church takes this burden away from us to keep us united - the unity Jesus prays for in the High Priestly Prayer of John 17. So as laymen, our options are that we can take this subject and look up who has written on it. We should always look for Church approval found in the front of the book of any material dealing with Scripture translations or interpretations. Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye, or the like, unless the Holy Spirit moves them to ‘come home’, will never have the assurance that their content is free from moral or doctrinal error because they will never have Church approval.

Many of the ideas here seem to have a strong Protestant influence to them. Because it flies in the face of what Church approved material does say about the Apocalypse - at least that I have read, I felt responsible to share what I knew about the subject through reading Church approved material and how it contrasted with Protestant interpretations - which have no leg stand on.

I think particularly on this site, we Catholics need to be careful of what we throw out here in these forums expressly because there are those that could read something we wrote which could hinder their conversion. Quite possibly there are some converts on here who haven’t shed some of the Protestant teachings they have received but there surely isn’t a shortage of books to clean things up for them. 😉

That is not to say that we can’t have intelligent discussions without having to worry about Church approval, but I for one felt that in this thread, the posts that smacked of Protestantism warranted some sort of response to interject thought that would be what modern Church approved thinking actually said on the subject.

In closing, as far as whatever frustrations you have had or will have, I will pray for you before I go to sleep. We aren’t alone in this sometimes less than pleasant life and if you need to, send me a PM…I have a lot of experience in the frustrations department.

God bless you brother,
luke1_28
 
luke1_28 said:
You are forgiven. I apologize for my reaction too. My response may have been somewhat sarcastic as I was a bit upset 😉 and my original intention of not responding at all fell to the wayside. So…I am sorry too. However, I am making progress as a recovering sinner! 👍 Because what I felt like responding with didn’t flow through my fingertips as in days of old…wow was I rude!😊

My point was that there is too much complexity in this book of the Apocalypse (or for that matter, any book of the Bible) to translate its meaning on our own - as laymen. However, the good news I was merely trying to convey, was that we don’t have to! The very ministry of the Church takes this burden away from us to keep us united - the unity Jesus prays for in the High Priestly Prayer of John 17. So as laymen, our options are that we can take this subject and look up who has written on it. We should always look for Church approval found in the front of the book of any material dealing with Scripture translations or interpretations. Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye, or the like, unless the Holy Spirit moves them to ‘come home’, will never have the assurance that their content is free from moral or doctrinal error because they will never have Church approval.

Many of the ideas here seem to have a strong Protestant influence to them. Because it flies in the face of what Church approved material does say about the Apocalypse - at least that I have read, I felt responsible to share what I knew about the subject through reading Church approved material and how it contrasted with Protestant interpretations - which have no leg stand on.

I think particularly on this site, we Catholics need to be careful of what we throw out here in these forums expressly because there are those that could read something we wrote which could hinder their conversion. Quite possibly there are some converts on here who haven’t shed some of the Protestant teachings they have received but there surely isn’t a shortage of books to clean things up for them. 😉

That is not to say that we can’t have intelligent discussions without having to worry about Church approval, but I for one felt that in this thread, the posts that smacked of Protestantism warranted some sort of response to interject thought that would be what modern Church approved thinking actually said on the subject.

In closing, as far as whatever frustrations you have had or will have, I will pray for you before I go to sleep. We aren’t alone in this sometimes less than pleasant life and if you need to, send me a PM…I have a lot of experience in the frustrations department.

God bless you brother,
luke1_28
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THanks, Luke, I appreciate your response and accepting of my asking for forgiveness. I will say some prayers for you, too. Blessings,
scott
 
The mark of the beast is the belief that the real presence of our Lord in communion is morally wrong. Mark on the head.

Or to continually recieve comunion with no true presence of our Lord. Mark on the hand.

Pure and simple this is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
 
In a way, the question is an historical and Biblical one: Should the father (Abraham) cut off the head of his son because God asks? If only listening for a moment of either threat or false promise is presented, it would be False. God is Only Truth.

Historically and re the Mark of the Beast: Belief and listening to God in a ‘step by step’ way proves God does not expect wrong to come from His commands. If we listen for a while, then take the balll and run, then we are as dead as is we never listened at all. The father would have killed his own son. Accepting the Mark will be an affirmation of our belief that The Evil One has any semblance of authority that can match God. This is false.

NO. I will not take the mark of the beast. The ‘threat’ associated with non-adherence to accepting the Mark is put forward by the
Liar of Liars,
The First of all Murderers,
the one who knows our weaknesses—but not our faithful strength.
Only God knows that, as it belongs to Him. No. No mark. love, mb123
 
Well per the subject line, no I wouldn’t accept the mark of the beast if and when the time comes. Your faith is usless unless you’re willing to die for it.

Regarding the contents of the post, I find it unlikely that this would be the mark. The mark will be on your Forehead and hand. As described, this would only be on your hand thus it’s not the mark of the beast.

Anyway, any time you start trying to figure out exactly what the sequence of events will be in the end times, you’re on shaky ground. As Father Mitch on EWTN states frequently, that’s a management question. God is management, revelation isn’t fully open to us.
 
Posted by crazzeto
Anyway, any time you start trying to figure out exactly what the sequence of events will be in the end times, you’re on shaky ground. As Father Mitch on EWTN states frequently, that’s a management question. God is management, revelation isn’t fully open to us
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Hi crazzeto, here’s something to think about: Rev 1:2 very clearly states, “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophesy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.” ----- Take to heart what is written in it. To me that means if our leaders don’t read and explain it, we should read it for ourselves in order to be blessed by God. Do you agree? ED O.
 
EdOsiecki said:
Hi crazzeto, here’s something to think about: Rev 1:2 very clearly states, “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophesy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.” ----- Take to heart what is written in it. To me that means if our leaders don’t read and explain it, we should read it for ourselves in order to be blessed by God. Do you agree? ED O.
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absolutely not. The sense of the text is that the meaning of the words and person reading them are predestined. I take it to mean the words are understood by people who live the words and by that life experience know their meaning. The pattern of their lives are how they read the words and those who listen are those who see their lives and understand the meaning of the book because they saw it lived… It would be a priviledge to be a witness to such a life let alone be that person or persons. To presume that we are at liberty to give it our own meaning is missing the sublime characteristic of the spirit of prophecy and the meaning of the book. Pardon my answering this before the person you asked.
 
JACQUE_D said:
I have checked with my husband, and we both agree that we wouldn’t accept the mark in any form. Of course we would expect the Church to be fully aware of anything untoward happening in this world, and instruct us accordingly.
In God we trust.
Jacqueline in New Zealand.
👍
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Agreed. 👍

When I was a Protestant, I was in churches who were into the Apocalypse-now teachings (credit cards are The Mark, Saddam is the Anti-Christ, barcodes are The Mark, tattoos are The Mark, etc.). Every new technology, every new baddie on the world stage was a suspect for casting as the main characters of The End. So much energy was put into these “interpretations” of the daily headlines that it almost eclipsed any substantive teachings about Scripture. This all reached a fevered pitch with the LaHay/Jenkins books, the Left Behind series. Most people forgot that these books were merely the authors’ fictional work based on their interpretation of Scripture; instead, the books were almost treated as a play-by-play for the future.

Coming from this background, you can imagine the great peace I feel as a Catholic. Now I submit to the interpretation of the Apocalypse as given by the Magisterium, and, as they refrain from speculation on the particulars, I will also.

I trust that the Holy Spirit will give the Magisterium further instruction if He sees fit and at the time He sees fit. I trust that He will guide His Church through all the headlines of history, whatever they might be. Therefore, I trust that He will guide me also, provided I remain in communion with the Church and her teachings.
 
EdOsiecki said:
Hi crazzeto, here’s something to think about: Rev 1:2 very clearly states, “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophesy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.” ----- Take to heart what is written in it. To me that means if our leaders don’t read and explain it, we should read it for ourselves in order to be blessed by God. Do you agree? ED O.
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To me it means I should study the faith, which to me means I should be utalizing the resources and means to do this which Christ him self set up. Christ told his Apostles “He who hears you hears me, he who rejects you rejects me” and “As the Father has sent me, so I send you”. The Apostles appointed successors to carry out their mission to fruition after thier deaths. So quite clearly, if we want to follow Christ, we should follow the successors of Christ’s Apostles.

God Bless
 
Posted by Benadam
absolutely not. The sense of the text is that the meaning of the words and person reading them are predestined. I take it to mean the words are understood by people who live the words and by that life experience know their meaning. The pattern of their lives are how they read the words and those who listen are those who see their lives and understand the meaning of the book because they saw it lived… It would be a priviledge to be a witness to such a life let alone be that person or persons. To presume that we are at liberty to give it our own meaning is missing the sublime characteristic of the spirit of prophecy and the meaning of the book. Pardon my answering this before the person you asked
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Hi Benadam, I’m sorry, I read what you wrote here but I have no idea as to what your saying, "people being predestined? " “people who live the words?” “be a privilage to be a witness to such a life?” I’m sorry I have no idea what you mean .ED O.
 
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