By Ver Pacete http://www.sunstar.com.ph/bacolod/o...-we-ready-end-times-second-three-parts-326132 Are we ready for the end times? (First of Three Parts) Thursday, January 30, 2014 IN THE Second Letter of Peter, the end of the world is portrayed as a time when God pours out this wrath against human wickedness but also offers hope for those who are just and faithful. The visions of spiritual transformation and physical destruction and rebirth picture the future world as a place in which God will be “everything to everyone”. How will the world end? The signs of times are here . . . nature fights back, nations and governments engage in star wars, planetary alignments change the face of the earth, or it could be possible “that we will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heavens with power and great glory; and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds.” On the day of the Last Judgment, the souls of meek and mighty alike are to be lifted up from the dead and judged by the risen Christ. There are believers who have given serious study on eschatology (what happens to man after death and what happens to the world at the end of time, which is the subject of the Apocalypse), astrological prophecies, the pyramids prophecy, the 60-year cycle, the apocalypse of St. John, the false Second Comings, the Nag Hammadi Cover-up, the Year of the Beast, and the prophetic visions of Nostradamus. We have known Napoleon and Hitler as the first and second Antichrist. Who will be the Third? The world fears Islamic Expansionism and many are eager to know the “whore of Babylon.” Is the Vatican going to fall? The end of the long line of popes has already been clearly prophesied by St. Malachy, but it remains for Nostradamus to tell us how this will come about. His quatrain V: 46 is very interesting: “Quarrels and news scheme by the red hats where the Sabine will have been elected: They will produce great sophisms against him. And Rome will be injured by those of Alba.” Many made attempts to explain. “Red hats” refer to cardinals. A cardinal from the Sabine country (northwest of Rome) will become Pontiff. Some cardinals could not accept him. Rome will be attached not just Vatican but this “Albanois” could not be readily identified. Could this refer to the Albanians? Could this be the color white in flag symbol? “Albus” means white. This Albanois could also refer to the Albenses, the original Latin people. Is Nostradamus giving us a hint that the attack will be from within? If we follow the thought of Nostradamus, it means that the Vatican will experience trouble within the reigns of the next three popes (including the present one) and that the institution itself may well come under the control of Nostradamus’s Third Antichrist. This is schism in the church. Confusion takes center stage as many Christian cults spawned their own messiahs. Many disciples followed them only too willingly, from the women of the Abode of Love who buried their dead standing up to the flaming Apocalypse of Waco and the strange female messiah of modern Russia. In my curiosity, I have come across the predictions of Edgar Cayce (1877-1945). He predicted the end of Communism, and that Russia would be born again. I have yet to convince myself on his less plausible prediction that China will become the new “cradle of Christianity.” In a trance in 1934, he described a number of unimaginable catastrophes that would occur at the end of the 20th century. A shift in the earth’s axis around the year 2000 will lead to the inundations of many coastal regions; Southern England to leave London as a coastal town; the loss of much of Japan; flooding of Northern Europe; open waters appearing where Greenland used to be; new land appearing off the east coast of North America; widespread destruction in Los Angeles, San Francisco and the disappearance of New York; upheaval in both polar regime; volcanic eruptions in tropical regime and an increase in Pacific rim volcano activity; and a general warming of currently cool areas, and cooling of warm areas. Horrible! Novelists and movie makers even connive to create Antichrist stories before the world ends. David Seltzer wrote “The Omen” and Aleister Crowley created a child character with specific magical character in “Moonchild.” The Antichrist is not to be confused with Satan. He is Satan’s representative on earth. (To be continued) ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Are we ready for the end times? (Second of Three Parts) Saturday, February 1, 2014 THE branch of theology concerned with beliefs about the end of time is called eschatology. The four most important events in this category for Christians are the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the last judgment, and the final recompense. The end of the world is often referred to as Doomsday, derived from the word “doom”, which means “law” and by implication “punishment.” The messages of the coming end of the world are well recorded in the Bible. Catholics are made to believe that Mama Mary by requesting her Son, the coming chastisement can be prevented. This Mama Mary as the “Mother of God” is a title given by the Council of Ephesus in 431. What Mama Mary can do has been elaborated by Fr. H. O’Laverty in his book, “The Mother of God and Her Glorious Feast.” This could raise a debate but it would always go back to the kind of belief that you have backed up by the religion of your choice. This would interest many of us if the issue of the end of the world would be connected to the greatest secret to one of the three children at Fatima. The secret was kept for 80 years before Pope John Paul II revealed it on June 26, 2000. Here is an excerpt from the official text released by the Vatican, “Before reaching there, the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins. Half trembling, with halting steps, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way. Having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big cross, he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him. In the same way, there died, one after another, the bishops, priests, religious men and women, variously lay people of different ranks and positions . . .” the text was written by Lucia dos Santos on March 4, 1944. When John XXIII read it in 1960, he was horrified and almost fainted. Pope John Paul II who made the content of the letter public believes that what was written was fulfilled and it happened to him. He was almost assassinated by Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turkish student and a terrorist on May 13, 1981. Many believed that the prophecy does not apply to him because he did not die. Joseph Ratzinger of the Holy Office made an official declaration that Pope John Paul II was the prophetic victim because he almost met Death but Virgin Mary guided the bullet away from him. Dear readers, make your own analysis. Does the event fit the Bible prophecy of the Fatima’s third secret? If the event applied to Pope John Paul II, why did he release the secret 19 years later. Some have doubts. People are expecting the horrible secret to contain events about doomsday on the unforgivable behaviors of some leaders running the affairs of Christ on the Rock he left behind. Some skeptics have even made a request to check if the handwritten letter really belongs to Lucia. The Vatican prefers to keep quiet. For the curious, the controversy continues to rage. Those who believe that the prophecy is authentic, wait what comes in the future. The Marian devotees give a closer look to what Lucia dos Santos wrote about the visit of the Lady of Fatima, “How much thus reflection made me suffer; only God knows, for He alone can penetrate our inmost heart. I began then to have doubts as to whether these manifestations might be from the devil, who was seeking by these means to make me lose my soul . . .” “But the lady is so beautiful, and we saw her go up to heaven. She then revealed the Secret. After that she said: Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times to Jesus – Oh, Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, an in reparation for the sins committed against the immaculate heart of Mary.” To some, there are questions left behind: Can the devil make itself beautiful like the Lady? Did the devil appear like an “angel of light”? The Immaculate Heart of Mary is mentioned. Is this not a doctrine long been taught by the Church? As expected, one has to take a side of the coin. We will know the answers at the end of time. We are sure of that. To be continued
As I See It Tuesday, February 4, 2014 Last of Three Parts THE secret message at Fatima was revealed by Pope John Paul II. The Vatican version was not that convincing after an interpretation was also given by Pope John Paul II. Great controversy surrounds the third prophecies of the Virgin. It was said Lucia turned white on hearing and cried out in fear. I have given you the Vatican version. Here is the version from the Stuttgart newspaper, the “Neues Europa.” The said newspaper had no doubt that this was indeed the content of the third prophecy: “For the church too, the time of its greatest trial will come. Cardinals will oppose cardinals and bishops against bishops. Satan will march in their midst and there will be great changes at Rome. What is rotten will fall, never to rise again. The Church will be darkened and the world will shake with terror.” “The time will come where no king, emperor, cardinal or bishop will await Him who will, however come, but in order to punish according to the design of my Father.” Probably, the Stuttgart newspaper has connection inside the Vatican and the source came from him. That could be a wild guess. The miraculous visitation on Oct 13, 1917 was observed by 70,000 people. The day was overcast and at 10 a.m., it started to rain very hard. At half past one, a pillar of smoke rose above the heads of the three children and evaporated. The clouds then parted to reveal a disk which shone like dull silver. Not painful to the eyes. It started to whirl thus producing a succession of glowing colors passed over its surface. The atmosphere changed to purple and then to old yellow damask. The light of the Virgin fell on the tree. Those who were there carried mixed emotions. “Is this a miracle or a figment of imagination?” From the subsequent testimony of thousands, it is certain that something incredible happened and any wonderful mind could not explain if it’s a trick of the light, a hoax, or indeed a climatic aberration. Only the children saw the Lady, who prophesied that the eldest among them, Lucia Dos Santos, would live to a ripe age; whereas the other two would die soon, a prophecy that came true. The Fatima’s third prophecy as explained by the Vatican has many similarities to the vision of Pope Pius X in 1909. During an audience, the pope leaned back and closed his eyes. Suddenly like in trance, he awoke and cried out: “What I see is terrifying. Will it be I? Will it be my successor? What is certain is that the pope will quit Rome, and in leaving the Vatican, he will have to walk over the dead bodies of his priests.” That was just a vision but sometimes reality starts from a vision especially if that vision has been provided by the Most High. There is a timetable to the end times predicted in Daniel 9:24-27. At the end of the 70 weeks (a week in seven years) length of time there will have peace and righteous will reign. All the prophecies will be fulfilled and Jesus will return. In there, there will be a missing week and that will be the seven years of Great Tribulation. The word “tribulation” is commonly used to describe the immediate pre-millennium period. There is a speculation by some scholars that whoever completed the process of New World Order Religion will automatically play the role of the False Prophet of Revelation 13. The beast with seven heads and ten horns will have one of his heads wounded to death but which will be miraculously healed; making people of the world wonder and worship him. The Bible is referring to the one who will appear during the Great Tribulation. The world will really come to an end and God will fix everything after showing His might that He is above Satan and the Antichrist. The prelude to judgment was the resurrection of the dead, the saved and the damned alike. Each person is judged and his destiny fixed at death but his eternal sentence is pronounced at the Last Judgment, the day when history and time cease and the kingdom of God is established throughout creation.
