Is Reflecting On The End Times A Reason To Lose Hope?
By Fr. Kevin Vaillancourt
Reprinted from Gaudens, a newsletter of the Catholic Research Institute. The Alleluia could not have returned to us any sooner than it has this past year. During Septuagesima, this glorious word, full of joy and hope, is missing from our prayers and from Holy Mass as part of our penitential practices. With the coming of Easter, we sing of its return and feel the joy and hope of its presence flooding our souls. Given the events which we reflect on during Holy Week, our human spirit needs an uplifting. We need the Alleluia once again to save us from discouragement and near despair. I speak not so much of our solemn reflection on the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, as the events of this past Holy Week. When news came to us regarding the Heaven's Gate cult and the mass suicide of its local members, we were horrified. The secular press, ever looking to compound a story, was quick to label the event as one of a "religious" group whose teachings were wrapped up in superstitious practices and strange recruiting techniques. The members of Heaven's Gate saw in the Hail-Bopp comet a sign they were awaiting for 20 years. Then, as theories started to abound, on radio, in print and on the Internet about an object trailing the comet, the cult was sure this was their sign. The trailing object was the space craft they were waiting for. It would save them from the certain destruction the comet was going to bring. If it wasn't for the seriousness of the results of this belief, we might find it humorous. It seems to come right out of the pages of the best of science fiction. In fact, secular popularists are using this event to warn of superstitious practices in general, and, in some circles, about believing in religion of any type since, as they say, "all religion is veiled in non-factual beliefs", and thus "preys on the naive and the unlearned". Mainstream religious people condemn the actions of the members of Heaven's Gate. While we pray for those involved, we wonder how thinking people can be so blind as to accept such wild and fantastic notions as lead to suicide. How could they get so wrapped up about the approach of a comet (which, at its closest distance was about 123,000,000 miles away) as to see in it the signal of the "End Times" or the "recycling of Mother Earth" or the like? Well, the doomsayers have been around much longer than just our century, and many good people, even religious people, have found themselves wrapped up in it. As I write this article, on my desk are three publications, all received during Holy Week, all speaking of the end of the world as we know it, and all coming from "Catholic" sources — two of them claiming to represent Tradition. Reading them over, we see a fine thread of thought that is similar to the notions of the Heaven's Gaters, the milleniarists and others who predict, with, as they say, nearly 90% certainty, that the world will end, if not this Easter (already past), then certainly before or on the year 2000. One of these publications is even making money on a video tape lecture of a Catholic religious Brother on this subject who speaks in terms that the fundamentalist Protestants use! Thus, in the name of Catholicism, good people are promoting the erroneous interpretation of the Scriptures by the Protestants and causing their own bank accounts to swell as a result. Space does not permit for a study of the real Catholic method of approaching the End of the World. We will take up this study at another time. As a word to the naysayers, this study will take the religiously balanced approach between Faith and Hope, assured with the certainty of what the Catholic Church really does teach on this subject. If you are looking for material to feed a doomsayers philosophy, you won't find it here. However, suffice it to say for now, that while Our Lord, Jesus Christ, told us to be watchful for His return to earth at the Final Judgment, in no place in Scripture does He tell us to be in fearful expectation of His arrival. We know not the time of this Coming, but, then, neither do we know the time of our own death. If God dwells in our souls by grace, then what are we to fear? Where Does This Fear Come From? Above we reviewed a cause for concern in the fear many good people have in the coming of the end of the world. Their fear usually comes from either emotionalism, or imbibing the wrong teachings about the end times. Catholics must be wary of a certain doom and gloom philosophy that is sweeping over religious people, no matter what the creed. Fundamental Protestants tell us that the sign for the end times are here because of their interpretations of Scripture. As Catholics, we know that no one has the authority to interpret Scripture except the Catholic Church. Listening to radio programs on "Christian" stations which repeat this central error is wrong and is at the core of why Catholics are becoming Protestant in their thinking. Likewise, subscribing to newsletters and reading magazines and books which promote this erroneous interpretation of Scripture is a danger to Faith as well as Hope — two very important virtues, without which Charity will have no foundation. Now watching programs or listening to the radio on which "conciliar" Catholics present their views is no better. They, too, have adopted the Protestant philosophy. Some Catholics even get involved in a multitude of "apparitions", especially those of our modern era. Certain "seers" of Our Lady echo the Protestant credo, and it is hard to believe that the Mother of God would contradict her Son in religious matters. What, then, are Catholics to do? Are we not to investigate the signs of the end times? Yes we are, but only in the light of what the Catholic Church teaches under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. What is more, our investigation of the end times should not lead us to despair of the end. If the end means that we will meet Jesus, and we have spent our whole life in anxious anticipation of that day, then of what are we afraid? In the words of a very learned traditional Bishop, "these are times we need to be close to a priest" and not be wrapped up in fear. According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, here are the signs which will precede the Second Coming of Christ. This will be our basis for further discussion on this topic. One thing is for sure: All of these signs must be present to properly announce the Coming of Jesus Christ. And even when they are all present, there is no sure guarantee on what day the end will come. When that "last day" will be no one can tell. All calculations from St. Augustine to the present have merely confirmed the dictum of Jesus that God the Father alone knows when Jesus will return again. The Signs Of The End Times 1. The General Preaching of the Christian Religion all over the Earth; 2. The Conversion of the Jews; 3. The Return of Henoch & Elias; 4. A Great Apostasy and the Reign of Antichrist. 5. Great disturbances in nature; 6. A Universal Conflagration. The Signs And Prudence As we continue our review of the proper understanding of the teachings about the end of the world, perhaps it might seem like this listing is rather abrupt. After all, this is a presentation of the signs explained in Roman Catholic teaching of what will precede the Second Coming of Christ and the End of the World, and little is else about the application of these signs. This is so because the short space of this study cannot hope to explain all of the Church's teachings on this subject. However, the signs are them-selves fairly self-explanatory, and the important thing to remember is that all of these signs must be present before the End. Even when we are sure that all these signs are present, we are still not sure of when the End will come after that. Care is being taken here to explain the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church regarding this end-time mystery as compared to that of Protestant invention. The Roman Catholic Church alone has the promise of the guidance of the Holy Ghost in the unerring teaching of the Deposit of Faith — that collection of teachings given to the Apostles by Christ, confirmed in them by the Holy Ghost, and infallibly taught through the ages even to our time by the successors of the Apostles. Protestantism, with its reliance on self-inspiration and private interpretation of the Scriptures, has no share in this Deposit of Faith. While some of their teachings may imitate that of the Church of Jesus Christ (the Roman Catholic Church), when they choose to depart from the Church, they do so quite drastically and in great variance from the rule of Apostolic Tradition. Perhaps these words might seem like "preaching to the converted", for it is Catholics (for the most part) who read these words — men and women, young and old, who are already convinced of the Divine origin of the Catholic Church and who have rejected Protestantism as false. However, while these good men and women can see the error in many aspects of Protestant theology, they are influenced by the myriad of forces around them. In the public medium, books, radio and television shows, audio and video cassette all present the concepts of Christianity according to the Protestant system of theology. Where Catholics may be weak in an understanding of their Faith, they will readily absorb the public presentation of Protestant thought and think it to be right and acceptable. It is not, and this is especially true in regards to the subject under discussion: the Second Coming and the End of the World. The Gospel of the Second Coming vs. The Gospel of Jesus Christ Centuries ago, when the Thessalonians came to Christianity, they were absorbed in the preaching of St. Paul, especially about the final resurrection of the body and the Second Coming. They were caught up with the words in the first Epistle where St. Paul spoke of the Coming "of the Lord Himself with cry of command, with voice of archangel, and with trumpet of God will descend from Heaven." (I Thess. 4:15). However, in their zeal to accept this point of Christianity, they bypassed the living of the Gospel. They talked only of this one point, and failed to practice the other virtues and commands of Christ. St. Paul rebuked them for this exaggeration in his second epistle. He told them "not to be easily moved from your sense, nor terrified, whether by spirit, or by word, or by epistle sent from us, as if the day of the Lord were at hand." (II Thess. 2:2) So, even in the early ages of Christianity, we see the Apostles battling against those who taught a doctrine different than theirs, but falsely passed off as being written or spoken by them. And the favorite topic to be used was to generate fear of the End of the World as though revealed to these false prophets. Cannot this rebuke of the Apostle be levelled in our age? Of recent recollection is the number of false sects which have arisen teaching the "Gospel of the Second Coming" and thus leading away the weak and unlearned. William Miller predicted the immanent Advent of Christ in 1843. When it didn't happen, he changed the date. His Adventists still are awaiting the "Coming of the Lord" under observances that are not part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Jehovah Witnesses live in their own Millennium, and since 1914 have been foretelling Armageddon, the final battle between good and evil, and its coming even during our life time. Part and parcel with this error has arisen a new teaching in Protestant theology: the Rapture. Unique as a teaching to modern Protestantism, the rapture is supposed to be the time when all who are "saved" in Christ will, at the sound of the angelic horn, be taken up to a place above this earth. While they are there, our world, and its evil influence will be destroyed, and a new heaven and a new earth will be created, and the saved will return to repopulate it for a thousand years. Like L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics, this reads like great science fiction, but is it based on Scripture? More importantly, will a Rapture really happen? The quick answer to this is no, and no. This theology is based on a wrong interpretation of Luke 17:33-34, where Our Lord warns that when the ends comes, "one will be taken, and the other left", and I Thess. 4:16: "Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ, into the air, and so shall we be always with the Lord." The first is a reference to those who stand in readiness for the destruction of the earth at the end of the world and how those who are ready to meet the Lord will be spared the agony of "those days". The second line of Scripture continues this thought, and gives us the unmistakable fact that when the destruction of the world will come, there will not be a renewed land for the just to come back and populate for 1,000 years before the Second Coming. The "new heaven and new earth" spoken of by St. John in his Apocalypse is created by God, after this final destruction, for the glorified and risen bodies of the just, not their same bodies raptured up to space someplace to escape destruction. The "rapture theology" echoes quite clearly the Jewish ideal of a Messiah who would reestablish an earthly kingdom and beat down the evil Romans. Strikingly enough, the modern-day "rapturists" are the most materialistic of the Protestants. TDD And The Catholic "Rapture" We have come to our final segment in a review of the Catholic perspective toward the "End Times". Perhaps since the dawn of creation there has been a worry among men about the end — when it will happen, what will happen, and how prepared can we be for it. In this light, such considerations are mere exercises of the virtue of Prudence. However, what is of grave concern is when the speculation about the end gets mixed in with superstition and individual interpretation of either Scripture or Church teaching. When such opinions about the end come forth, the thinking and believing Catholic must yield to the Church's teaching on the matter, and abandon all other thoughts. This is the foundation for the concern about what has become, in some traditional Catholic circles, the doctrine of the Three Days of Darkness. We began this series of discussions pointing out that excessive fear is the source behind the appearance of wild groups who preach the end of the world, and who are willing to take their own lives. While suicide is not preached among the adherents of the TDD, excessive fear, mixed with superstitious practices, is. While it might seem strong to say that the TDD concept has been raised to a level of a doctrine in many traditional Catholic circles, in reality it is not. If a priest even attempts to breathe a word against it, he is considered naive, or liberal, or even a modernist. This is wrong. In the first place, TDD can never be made a doctrine of our Faith so that one must believe it to be saved. All dogmatic revelation ceased with the death of the last Apostle. This is called the Deposit of Faith. Thus, any new "revelations" must first of all be considered private, and secondly, must bear the approval, in some form, of the Church. It is this essential point that brings the first concern: Church approval. Much of what has been circulated regarding TDD the past three decades is unapproved. The booklet on TDD being used for reference in this writing is a good example of it. Nowhere in this booklet is there an imprimatur, or a quote from a Church authority attesting to the least proof of this writing. Thus, the first consideration is that TDD'ers are basing their fears on unapproved sources. If you've ever watched the fur rise up on an angry dog, you can see the fur fly from a TDD'er when you say that TDD is not approved. They will quote this mystic and that visionary — all supposedly holy people, but whose holiness (for some, at least) has not been submitted to the scrutiny of the Church — as sources for the revelation. Because of their apparent holiness, TDD'ers say, "then the Church gives at least some credence to their sayings". Perhaps it does, but not the credence they imply which means that the Church approves of TDD. The Church may approve of private revelations, but only after careful scrutiny and never to the level of saying that such revelations must be added to the Deposit of Faith. But how can Catholics get wrapped up in reading and believing material found in non-approved booklets? It is because, in the conciliar Church, no such approvals are needed. Not long after the Second Vatican Council, Paul VI removed the requirement of the Church's approval on any apparitions or visions. What is more, Paul VI's actions also removed the requirement of seeking an imprimatur before publishing any material on the matter. This is why we can be flooded with propaganda — in any media — on any apparition or vision around. "Our Lady of the Roses" from Bayside, NY, "Our Lady of All Faiths" from Medugorje, and similar visions with messages contrary to Faith abound. Of interest to our subject is that the apparition most quoted by the TDD'ers is the unapproved one from Garabandal, Spain. No, with TDD, we're not starting off on the right Catholic foot here. The one very important point of approval from the Church is missing in TDD. If it is only surmised, or assumed, based on the actions of Paul VI, then what business do traditional Catholics have getting involved in it? While approval is an important consideration, so too is the matter of superstitious practices. Consider these: During TDD — • Anyone who even looks out or goes outside will die immediately. • Only candles blessed specially for TDD will light, and nothing will put them out in the houses of believers. However, they will not light in the houses of the godless. • Holy Water is to be drunk and used as an anointing for all the senses sine qua non. • While people will die if they are outside, animals will not, especially those petted by believers. • Those travelling on the road will die as martyrs. • The great curse: "Those who disregard this advice will be killed instantly". • Only certain foods should be eaten during TDD. One list includes the "Miraculous Sustaining Grapes" from Mama Rosa Quatrini, in San Damiano, Italy. These, and more, are superstitious practices, and forbidden under the First Commandment. No apparition from God would announce something contrary to His own teaching, especially the curse of death on all those who disregard the message. While some Catholics may protest that they don't go this far in their beliefs, still every adherent of TDD believes in some or other form of a superstitious practice. Once again, the presence of such notions should cause the thinking and believing Catholic to exercise caution. Catholics in other parts of the world look on we Americans as foolish when it comes to TDD. It has never made inroads in other lands, and they say they have their Faith as a sure guide and preparation for those last days, rather than a encouraging a Catholic answer to the Protestant Rapture. Is there any reason, then, why Americans, for the most part, are the only ones gullible enough to believe this rot? The underlying message of TDD is fear. There is no basis in this concept in Tradition, so it must be a distraction of the Evil One, disguising himself as an angel of light, so as to keep some bound up in fear. Remember the warning of St. Paul: "Even if an Angel preach a doctrine different than what I preach, let him be anathema." The End Times And Christian Caution We have reviewed a lot of material in this study. We needed to; the preachings and rantings about the "End Times" is nearly omni-present, and little has been offered to the Catholic faithful to encourage prudence and spiritual caution. Let's face it: the end of our time comes when we die and face Jesus as our Judge. This, is reality, is the most important "End Time" we shuold prepare for. Let us prepare well for death with true Christian dignity and hope. Afterall, this is what Jesus Christ and His Holy Mother, Mary, will expect of us when we meet them on our entrance to the next life. Reprints of this other material of Catholic topics with a traditional viewpoint is available by writing to Catholic Research Institute, P.O. Box 756, Greenacres, WA 99016 .