In his Life of Christ (Image Books, 1977, p. 10), Archbishop Fulton John Sheen wrote, "We do know that at the end of time, when the great conflict between the forces of good and evil takes place, Satan will appear without the Cross, as the Great Philanthropist and Social Reformer to become the final temptation of mankind." Indeed, Paul Henri-Spaak, who served as Belgian Prime Minister and gained international prominence in 1945 when he was elected chairman of the first session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, had called for such a "Great Philanthropist and Social Reformer":
"We do not want another committee, we have too many already. What we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the allegiance of all people, and to lift us out of the economic morass in which we are sinking. Send us such a man* and be he God or the Devil, we will receive him."
It would seem that the world is ready to receive such a man. Read this article and watch the commercials which have appeared on CNN.
* St. John of the Cleft Rock (14th century): "It is said that twenty centuries after the Incarnation of the Word, the Beast in its turn shall become man. About the year 2000 A.D., Antichrist will reveal himself to the world."
CCC, 675.
13 comments:
I know that you are not saying that this "Maitreya" is necessarily the Antichrist. Only that so many people seem to be ready for him to reveal himself. I agree. In my opinion, he will keep his true identity hidden until he is entrenched in power. Therefore I doubt this "Maitreya" is the one. But I could also be wrong.
I do believe that his message will be welcomed by most who call themselves Christian. That's why Jesus asks if the Som of Man will find faith on earth when He returns. There will always be a remnant. But it will be tiny. The Church will be much smaller in the days of Antichrist.
This is why so many priests do not preach against sin any longer. Many have lost their faith and are no longer convinced of the reality of sin and its consequences.
How can one preach against homosexuality, for example, if one is living that "lifestyle"? To condemn it would be to condemn one's own actions. Hence the silence.
But where such "pastors" are silent, God is raising up a faith-filled laity to fill the void. He is able to raise up preachers of His Word from the very stones. His Word, His Message, will not be silenced.
Should We Respect These Elders?
Posted by Mary Ann Kreitzer
Les Femmes - The Truth
July 26, 2009
http://lesfemmes-thetruth.blogspot.com/2009/07/should-we-respect-these-elders.html
Have you heard of "the Elders?" They are a group of international big names who have been selected for their self-proclaimed "collective wisdom." Among them are former Secretary General of the U.N. Kofi Annon, former president Jimmy Carter, former Irish president Mary Robinson, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and a handful of others. According to their website they were convened in 2007 by Nelson Mandela to "offer their experience and support for peace building and collaborative approaches to addressing major causes of human suffering."
How do they work? "The Elders are committed to listening to the views of all groups and individuals – and especially women and young people....The Elders amplify the voices of those who work hard to be heard, challenge injustice, stimulate dialogue and debate and help others to work for positive change in their societies."
In their website video Kofi Annon says of the elders (including himself), "They do not have careers to build, elections to wins, constituents to please. They can talk to anyone they please and are free to follow any paths they deem right." The elders then, are being promoted as an independent group of wise leaders able to advise the global village to solve the problems of mankind. Religion has little role in this enterprise. In fact, the elders see it as a primary oppressor of women and a source of many of mankind's problems.
This is particularly evident in the discussion of one of the main issues listed on the website, "equality of women and girls." The page addressing the issue specifically targets religion as a source of discrimination. Jimmy Carter, writing in his role as an elder, elaborated on this recently when he quit the Southern Baptist Convention because of their position against ordaining women as deacons and pastors. In a commentary article in The Age, an Australian Newspaper, he made it clear that religions that will not ordain women are antiquated and discriminatory. "The carefully selected verses found in the Holy Scriptures to justify the superiority of men," Carter wrote, "owe more to time and place - and the determination of male leaders to hold onto their influence - than eternal truths." This was clearly a swipe at all faiths, including the Catholic Church, that do not ordain women. It is the same language adopted by feminist groups advocating women priests.
Carter also used not so coded language to attack the Church for its opposition to abortion. "The belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives." While the Elders' website carries nothing about abortion, the language that fills U.N. documents about women "controlling their bodies" and women's reproductive rights should concern anyone about the ultimate goals of this group, especially since many are well known for their abortion advocacy. Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson, Kofi Annon, Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandela all have extreme pro-abortion backgrounds.
In fact, the Elders looks like one more group of elitist ideologues who believe that human effort can bring about Utopia. Their cumulutive record of pro-abortion and pro-population control politics makes it questionable whether they really have the interests of individual people at heart. As Screwtape, C.S. Lewis' senior devil, always advised his nephew Wormwood, keep man's attention on humanity as a whole and he'll overlook the hungry man next door.
"He shall speak against the Most High and oppress the holy ones of the Most high, thinking to change the feast days and the law. They shall be handed over to him for a year, two years, and a half-year." (Dan 7:25)
Prepare now all you who are reading this. That is the watch-word: Prepare. Go to Confession, pray the Rosary, live a sacramental life, remain steadfast in your faith...the ends of the earth are about to be shaken.
I think that when the temple is rebuilt in Jerusalem the anti-christ will be the Jewish messiah. He will have control of the world media and brainwash many...and probably kill many...
Rob Epperly
author, Sons of Thunder
Probably Jewish from the tribe of Dan (Genesis 49:17).
I have long thought Maitreya was the antichrist too, but this verse along with the early Church Father's suggest Jewish ancestry.
Change. Where have we heard that before? The Antichrist, or the beast that rises up out of the sea, will be a popular dude. He will most likely be a liar and a murderer, like the devil.
Now, we have someone who holds a very high office and is consistently labeled a liar. He also espouses murder via abortion, embryonic stem cell destruction, and child sacrifice around the world. Truly the president of 'the culture of death.' Now he appears to be trying to usher in euthanasia via gov't health care. The world fawns over this man...Need I go further? He fits the description.
if you research about maitreya, recall these things: he's something for everyone, for Jews, he's jewish, for Christians, a christian, for those of other faiths, he appears as they would have him appear. A chameleon.
Remember, he will not have the wounds of Christ, no holes in his hands or feet or side. Do the research, live the sacramental life, go to confession and reconcile with Jesus. Pray the rosary for the sake of souls.
It had already started since the conception of Communism (Karl Marx was a Jew from the tribe of Dan?)in the late 1800's wherein God is cast aside and that religion is considered poison. Well you know the consequences of that revolution around the world, hundreds of millions died and martyred including the church's member and priests.
After the fall of communism we thought they were done but it is not so, its diabolical idea continue to spread in the form of human triump over God in secularism, materialism and consumerism where Popes JPP II and Benedict always reminded us of the dictatorial tendencies of relativism.
From this modern secular world comes only within 100 years a tremendous advancement in Technology, ipods,A.I., super computers and other wonders where it is almost impossible to think about God and thus try to substitute and forget about Him.
Anti-christ is when somebody remove God and look at himself as all-sufficient, it is man's idea of life without God.
I think this is the great apostasy St Paul was talking about and that most Saints prophesized, we are in the very last moment of our human history.
Look at the CAtechism of the Catholic Church about Second Coming and anti-christ.
Come Lord Jesus, Come!
Maranatha.
Jae, good comment. But the Antichrist will be an actual man. St. Paul refers to him as the "Man of Sin" (2 Thess. 2:3). There will be many antichrists just as there were forerunners of Jesus. But evil will be become incarnate in one "Son of Perdition," one "Man of Sin."
I believe that if it is too easy to figure out who the Anti-Christ is, then he isnt the Anti-Christ.
Just like the saying: If it is too good to be true.....
I deeply believe that the Anti-Christ will not be known until he is nearly finished with us all.
We are just not going to know who he is that easily. He will more than likely be at the height of his power and influence when it is far too late to identify him as the man of sin.
Obama?? Not smart enough. Just because you have a Harvard Education, does not automatically make you super-intelligent.
Maitreya?? Anti-Christ Wanna be.
I learned of him almost 15 yrs ago.
Scary? Sure he is. Evil? More than likely. Will play a role of some sort? Probably. The actual Anti-Christ? I doubt it.
Can you imagine all the Wanna-Be's out there now? By Pride and Ego, I can imagine the envy involved when it comes to those that want to be something they are not.
Just as people want attention and applause and adoration from others in a positive way, there are those that go in the opposite direction and try to obtain recognition in a negative way. Positive or Negative, recognition is still the same for some. I feel we are going to see the battles of the Anti-Christ wanna be's, just like the preachers on TV that battle for our attention.....and money all in the name of Christ.
Bono?? Research this nut-case and you will be surprised by what you find. The Anti-Christ? No.
I have a feeling he is Satan's Modern-day "John the Baptist" in the opposite of our version of John.
I feel he is one of many to come that will be announcers, PR people, and globe-trotting ambassadors for the modernist/NWO agenda. Research him and you should find out what he used to call himself at one time. Eye-opening.
Trying to figure out who the man of sin will be is futile. We must know Christ voice. We must have a great relationship with him to know what we will need to know WHEN we need to know it. Not before.
It is not going to be simple.
Why wont it?
God is simple when it comes to loving and guiding us.
It is US that complicates things when it comes to God.
We put up the blocks and over intellectualize too much.
However, since we have fallen into such deep sin in this age, God is not going to make it easy for us to just figure it all out and protect ourselves from our fellow man.
It will be as it is supposed to be.
We have been given so many chances and so much information from heaven that we should have already changed course long ago, but we have not, so we get what we deserve dont we?
I have read every post in this section on the Anti-Christ. All of the post are so insightful.
Some of the best things I have read on any Catholic site in a long time. I am surprised really.
People at all different levels of the journey to God. All good people trying to be better people.
I am so thankful for finding this site, and I thank Spirit Daily for linking it.
Thank you Thomas for your comment and for the kind note. And thank you all for your comments. Although we may not be able to identify the Man of Sin at this moment, one thing is certain: our age is ready to receive him. As Christians, we must pray fervently for the grace to resist the temptations of our epoch. As Pope Benedict XVI writes in his book Jesus of Nazareth: "Today..there is also the ideology of success, of well-being, that tells us, 'God is just a fiction, he only robs us of our time and our enjoyment of life. Don't bother with him! Just try to squeeze as much out of life as you can.' These temptations seem irresistible as well. The Our Father in general and this petition in particular [But deliver us from evil] are trying to tell us that it is only when you have lost God that you have lost yourself; then you are nothing more than a random product of evolution. Then the 'dragon' really has won."
This will be the Antichrist's supreme temptation as Guardini says: to convince people that not only is life without Christ possible, but that it is desirable. He will attempt to convince us that society is better off without Christ.
Make your home an ark. Multiply your prayer cenacles. Seek refuge in the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
I believe the final Anti-Christ will be what we consider half-Jewish. There is so much anti-Semitism that I don't think the world would follow a Jew. But the Jews consider someone of their lineage as Jewish if only the mother is Jewish, something that the other religions wouldn't find troubling too much.
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