Ok, my book arrived today: Communism and the Conscience of the West. So far I've read the entire first chapter called "The Decline of Historical Liberalism and the Rise of the Antireligious Spirit," which comprises pp. 1 - 35. A lot of the chapter is pulled from Sheen's radio speech that I posted further up the thread, hence the overlap in several parts of the quotes you shared from Fr. Heilman's repost. It seems that Sheen used his sermon to help write his book. But there is other material I hadn't read before as well. I found absolutely nothing about a false prophet being recruited from our bishops. As a matter of fact, pages 24 and 25 are entirely taken from a part of the book Three Conversations, written by Vladimir Soloviev, and quoted by Sheen to give a cautionary tale. It's about a young man inspired by Satan to write a book called The Open Road to Peace and Prosperity for the World, who then becomes the President of the United States of Europe. After exiling the Holy Father from Rome and declaring himself to be the "World Emperor of Rome," he calls together a World Council of Churches, including the exiled Catholic pope, Pope Peter II, along with many Catholic monks; Eastern bishops led by their leader Fr. John; and evangelicals led by a professor, and forces them to sit and listen to his speech. He offers enticements to each group--the Catholics, the Orthodox, and the evangelicals: He tells the Catholics that he will reinstate Pope Peter II upon his throne in Rome, with all of his original rights and privileges, as long as the Catholics still consider the Emperor of the United States of Europe to be their true protector and benefactor. Nearly all of the cardinals, bishops, and Catholic faithful, and almost half of the monks joyfully get up and join the Emperor, while Pope Peter resolutely stays in his lowly seat, surprising the Emperor. Only a small number of Catholics remain with the Pope. Then the Emperor turns to the Orthodox and says he will give large sums of money to create a world museum of Christianity in Constantinople, and in response, over half of the orthodox excitedly join the Emperor, leaving their leader, Fr. John, along with a small group of orthodox, sitting still. When Fr. John sees how little remain with him, he looks at Pope Peter II and then moves over to join him. The few remaining Orthodox follow him over to Pope Peter II and they sit beside him. Then the Emperor turns to the Evangelicals and notes how study of the Bible is most important to them, so he is about to become a great Doctor of Theology. More than half of the Evangelicals are satisfied by this and go to join the Emperor, while their leader, the Professor, sits uneasily with a few followers. He then gets up and joins Pope Peter II and Fr. John, along with his few followers. (About here is where p. 24 and 25 in Sheen's book begins) The Emperor then turns to the small group, notes that they've been abandoned by the majority of their fellow Christians, and demands to know what is most important to them. Fr. John stands up and says Jesus Christ is what is important to them, and he'd like to hear the Emperor confess the Christian Creed for all to hear. When the Emperor remains silent, Fr. John turns to the small band of faithful Christians and shouts that the Emperor is the Antichrist. Immediately a great bolt of lightning strikes him dead, and Pope Peter II rises and excommunicates the Emperor, only to be struck dead by lightning as well. The Evangelical professor then stands and writes down as a witness before all, of the two martyrs who have given their life for the Truth. He warns the remaining Christians to flee from the Antichrist into the wilderness and wait for the coming of Christ. And that is all that is included in pages 24 and 25 of Sheen's book.
If anyone has been paying attention to the Epstein files which have been released, we might now know what hook it is that God will put into the jaw of Russia. However in Rev 20:7 it sounds like the whole world might want their pound of Israel flesh.
Oh my goodness, I am just now seeing your post PurpleFlower. Thank you for taking the time to write your summary of the first chapter. A constant pray of late is begging God to protect us from deception, which I believe will become increasingly difficult, as the tools of satan are lended freely to those in power. Thank you to all here on this forum for sharing the wisdom of the one, true Church.
