By Walid Shoebat (Shoebat Sunday Special)
In studying both Bible and prophecies by saints, we can conclude in a simple one line summary that the end of the world will start by schisms and heresy abounding (the falling away). The church will become sloth and virtually empty of congregants while Islam re-arises to replace and attempt to destroy it. There will be a rise in calamities in the western world where Muslim hordes will penetrate Europe. The Muslim world will fracture between Arab, on the one side, versus Turk and Persian on the other side. Civil wars in Europe will erupt. Then we will see refinement of the sheep Christian nations. Then the defeat of the Muslims and heretics. Then a restoration to the truth: the one true Church.
This will take a while; a decade, two or even three, no one really knows but the Father in heaven.
We see this theme throughout history where the church is either persecuted by heretics, atheists or Muslims. Besides the biblical narrative, which we explained on many occasions, Dionysius of Luxemberg (17th century) stated:
"After the birth of Antichrist the people of the world will be very wicked and godless. People of real virtue will be very scarce. Pastors in many places will neglect the service of God, and will live with women. Even the religious will crave for worldly things. The churches will be dreary and empty like deserted barns...At the time when Antichrist is about twenty years of age the whole world will be without faith, subjects will be oppressed by rulers and others in authority. In every period of tribulation God aids His Church, and He will do it in the time before the coming of Antichrist. From the midst of His Church He will raise up a Christian ruler who will perform most remarkable deeds. With divine assistance this ruler will not only lead erring souls back to the true Faith but also deal a heavy blow to the foes of the empire; the Turks, to take away their empire and restore it to Christianity (Connor p.84).
I was not the only one harping over the rise of the Turks and how the Islamic beast will re-arise again. "The [traditional] churches will be dreary and empty like deserted barns". Ever wonder why as a traditional Christian you feel so foreign and lonely? "People of real virtue will be very scarce". Just look at the way the world changed in the last two decades. Here we are watching daily, godless people doing evil deeds. Color revolution, cop killing, unrest, weird crimes, ISIS ... Two decades ago who ever dreamt such chaos. During these times, you can safely roam Syria, Iraq, Libya ... and in Europe I visited France and it was beautiful. These days I completely stopped visiting the United Kingdom where I could hardly find Christians. Today nothing is the same. Just imagine how it will be two or three decades from now. Today "the churches will be dreary and empty like deserted barns." Take a look at so many of the most beautiful churches in France. Abandoned. Empty. Scroll down and see while you weep, just how true, this prophecy came to pass:
As a result if this abandonment, soon we will see the punishment and chastisement in Europe. I feel it in my inner soul. Brother Louis Rocco (19th century) predicted:
Terrible wars will rage all over Europe. God has long been patient with the corruption of morals; half of mankind He will destroy. Russia will witness many outrages. Great cities and small towns alike will be destroyed in a bloody revolution that will cause the death of half the population."
Yet after this, a refinement with fire, Rocco continues with the Good News:
In Istanbul (Constantinople) the Cross will replace the half-moon of Islamism, and Jerusalem will be the seat of a King. The southern Slavs will form a great Catholic Empire and drive out of Europe the Turks, who will withdraw to North Africa and subsequently embrace the Catholic faith. (Dupont, p.76)
The refinement of France including the main population of the Central and Southern European countries of Bulgaria Croatia, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia which will be refined as gold is refined. If this is not so, how else do you think that God in Micah 5 raises "seven shepherds" who will lead their nations to victory over Antichrist?
When I first wrote on Bible Prophecy, many believed that my proposal was a regional war in the Middle East, where so many objected, complained and slandered ridiculing me falsely of being “Muslim centric”.
This is not true. It takes two decades to explain one half of the puzzle and another two decades to explain the other half, that is, if I continue living two more decades of this coming hell on earth.
I knew that Islam will rise first while many were focusing on Europe. Now that I know what is coming in Europe, they all focus on Islam and ISIS. Two decades ago there was no need for my interpretations regarding Europe since most 'Antichrist watchers' were Euro-centric. It was not time to focus on Europe. The Battles of Armageddon are global. My focus since two decades ago was on the epicenter: the Middle East. How else can the Christian understand where the threat is stemming from if I focused only on Europe?
Europe is not like the United States. Parts of Europe hates the other parts. Few examine prophecies that predict a split in Europe (explained here in detail). Even in Belgium itself, the central headquarters of the EU, there are prophecies that speak of regions like Wallonia which comprise 55% of Belgium and prophecies of civil struggles between Northern and Southern Europe where Germany will turn against France and we have seen official statements coming from Germany’s AfD Alexander Gauland which confirm these predictions.
Turkey will also begin a turmoil and invasions causing further refinements within Europe to eventually be defeated. Paris will be destroyed.
In the Muslim world, there too will be a split between beast and harlot. Catholic writer Yves Dupont writes "Here, we are told that Turkey will break its faith with the rest of the Arab world." (Dupont, p. 107).
The fracture is not only in Europe but also in Islamdom. Dupont, who probably did not foresee exactly how these prophecies are fulfilled, his analysis of these prophecies is referring to the fracture between non-Wahhabists (Sufi, Shiite and other Sunnis) against Arabia's Wahhabism. Today we see this. As Wahhabist ISIS did its sickening deeds, the world is focused on Arabia's theology that gave birth to ISIS: Wahhabism.
Today we see Saudi Arabia slowly being abandoned and last week even the U.S. issued a law to go after Saudi Arabia for the September 11th catastrophe. Arabia is becoming more isolated. Arabia had hoped Erdogan in Turkey will be ousted. Its judgment was wrong which will bring the fury of the AKP Party in Turkey (like Iran) against Arabia. Persia also wants the complete destruction of Arabia which it blames for all the killings against the Shiites by ISIS.
ISIS executing Shiites
Even scripture confirms. Dupont's prediction is alluded to in Apocalypse 17: “God has put it into their [non-Wahhabists] hearts". This is the divide between Arabia, the heart of Islam, including its wahhabist ideology, versus all non-wahhabist sects which encompass most Sunni plus all Shiite branches of Islam. “these shall hate” (not love) “the whore” and it is “God” Who “hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will". God plants the hate, puts it in their heart to fulfill His will to destroy and punish the heart of Islam. (see full analysis here)
FRANCE IN PROPHECY (THE MAJOR PROPHETIC PRINCIPLE)
So who will be at the forefront in combatting the neo-Ottomans? Answer: France.
If Turkey is the eye of the storm in the Muslim world, France will be the eye of the storm in Europe. It begins in civil unrest, revolution, death and mayhem, initially the good is defeated to simply be refined and re-arise and then defeat the bad. Then France will lead the way to combat the Muslims. A century before Islam, pious men predicted this outcome. Keep in mind a prophetic principle. I wrote it poetically:
When the church in Rome spiritually falls
Later you will see Muslim catapults on its walls
When Europe is the headline every day
Refinement, Persecutions, Revival
are on the way
The Muslim then faces a crushing defeat
To Africa and Turkey he shall retreat
The Christian Trumpet (1875) documents several prophecies, especially the principle on how France plays the role in end-times. So many are the prophecies about France. For example, St. Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, in Celtic Gaul (France), baptized King Clovis, with three thousand of his principal nobles and officers of his court and army, on Christmas in the year 494 declared to the king (1):
“Take notice, my child,” St. Remigius said to King Clovis, “that the kingdom of France is predestined by God for the defense of the Roman Church, which is the only true Church of Christ. This kingdom shall one day be great among the kingdoms of the Earth, and shall embrace all the limits of the Roman Empire, and shall submit all other kingdoms to its own scepter."
Many hate this. They hate the Catholic Church. This is actually the test, the goats will always hate the Catholic Church and level slanders and misunderstood theological interpretations by reading scriptures and following their own private interpretation:
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (2 Pet 1:20-21)
Even this verse, which is so clear, the rebel will object demanding "listen to me". Correct interpretation is for chosen holy men led by the Holy Ghost and approved by comparing what authority had already revealed. In other words, interpretation should not conflict from historic interpretation. There is a church and it interprets. Joel predicted simple men and maidens to give us interpretations and even provide additional prophecy that help us understand the text we read.
Hate it or like it “It [the Catholic Church] shall last until the end of time."
Many phony writers focus on the U.S. selling all sorts of blood moons that never happened. They do not like us to stop the tickling of their ears when we compel them to scratch their heads. The disregard towards the Bible from its history is appalling. It is Europe, and not the U.S., that was the central headquarters of the Church. Prophetic principles never change. From ancient Israel to now, God set certain standards. It is the same as it was for ancient Israel as it was and will be for France:
“It [France] shall be victorious and prosperous as long as it will remain faithful to the Holy Roman See, and will not be guilty of any of those crimes which ruin nations; but it shall be rudely punished every time that it will become unfaithful to its vocation.”
Is France behaving Christian today? So it is due for punishment. The uninterrupted tradition of all ages combine in asserting the authenticity of this prophecy.
The prophecy by St. Remigius to King Clovis was approved throughout history:
"All ecclesiastical writers of France, all the ancient chronicles, and all hagiographers, from Venerable Bede, who lived in the seventh century, to Baronius, in the sixteenth century, and M. Ch. Barthelemy, in his history of the Saints of France, mention it, when they have occasion to speak about St. Remigius and King Clovis. But the realization of this prophecy is no less attested by the uniform testimony of every age. To be convinced of this fact, it is sufficient to open the history of France. Everybody will be forced to admit that this prophecy is the program and compendium of French history. All great events in France continually revolve on this point. All that astonished humanity observed at the times of King Clovis, of the Emperor Charlemagne and St. Louis, men are ever surprised to see repeated in France."
Just because you are unfamiliar with these saints means nothing. The greatest writer of our age, M. the Count de Maistre, could pen these celebrated words: —
“It is sufficient to open history in order to see that the punishment, inflicted on France when she is culpable against God or his Church, goes out of all ordinary rules, and that the protection granted to her by God is also of an extraordinary character."
“These two prodigies combined are reciprocally multiplied, and present one of the most astonishing spectacles that the human mind has ever contemplated.”
This prophecy of St. Remigius became famous both in the West and East.
In The Christian Trumpet even "The [Muslim] Saracens of Sicily relied on this prophecy when, without fear, they resisted the attack of the great Emperor Nicephorus, saying that it was not he whom the oracles foretold as their future victor, but that it would have to be a great monarch of the French nation, which would have to attain the highest power before the end of the world, and then put an end to the Ottoman Empire."
Even the Muslim demons trusted and knew these prophecies just as Herod trusted Micah 5 when the King was born. And if the devil studies the prophets, why should the sheep ignore them?
The Catholic prophecies have no lack in predicting what I have been writing about for two decades regarding the Ottoman Empire.
"And then put an end to the Ottoman Empire." For this prophecy to be fulfilled, this empire, the Ottomans, must revive as Europe falls spiritually. The Church prophets knew and foretold it, yet few focus on what they wrote. Today we see this. No one can deny the rise of neo-Ottomanism. For years they said the AKP Islamist party will soon end. This year they said it was certainly ending right after the coup. We said that the contrary will be true. We examined the prophecies. The prophets were correct.They are always correct. After July 15th, the AKP, the neo-Ottomans, are now etched in history as the victor and at a point of no return.
Throughout history there is an equilibrium, that as Christendom falls away, Islamdom rises and as Islamdom rises, it persecutes Christendom. Islamdom then sloths. When Muslims sloth, refined Christendom will re-arise to crush Islam's head. This is Islam's mortal head wound. This happens twice. This struggle parallels the Passion. When the devil persecuted Christ, the devil won the battle bruising Christ's heel, but in the end, he looses the war since Christ was Victorious. Likewise, the devil bruises the Church's heel. He can never kill it. Christ then crushes the devil's head. We must understand this equilibrium.
The great French monarch before the end of the world will confront the Ottoman Empire."The Venerable Bede, in the seventh century, supports this prophecy with the oracles of the ancient Sibyls (Carmina Sibyl, Tom. VIII). More than a thousand years ago, Rabanus Maurus, who was a Benedictine abbot in Fulda in the year 822, and afterwards Archbishop of Mayence, made the following statement: —
“Our principal doctors agree in announcing to us, that towards the end of time one of the descendants of the kings of France shall reign over all the Roman Empire; and that he shall be the greatest of the French monarchs, and the last of his race."
“After having most happily governed his kingdom, he will go to Jerusalem, and depose on Mount Olivet his scepter and crown."
“This shall be the end and conclusion of the Roman and Christian Empire.”
"The monk Adson repeats this ancient tradition in the tenth century. He made use of this prophecy to prove that the end of the world should not, as some persons believed, take place at the end of that century; because, he said, the great French monarch is not yet come. This prophecy is found in the book of Antiquities in an appendix to the works of St. Augustine (Tom. VI, Benedictine edition). This work is attributed to the celebrated Alcuin, the friend and teacher of Charlemagne."
We always see a prophetic principle, when France falls, there is the French Revolution, then Napoleon Bonaparte; truly catastrophes and holocausts galore. Then we see magnificent saints: Saint Louis was the King of France from 1226 until his death in 1270. And before that we have Charlemagne, king of the Franks (768–814), king of the Lombards (774–814), and first emperor (800–814) of the Romans and of what was later called the Holy Roman Empire.
The French Revolution The Great Chastisement
Just to see this principle, as France decayed spiritually, it was the same way prior to the French Revolution and it is the case today. Rene de Chateaubriand and William Warburton, both men who lived in the 18th century, wrote of these times prior to the French revolution. They wrote against and on the philosophies that would have provided the ideological foundation for the French Revolution. Chateaubriand tells us that it began with the philosophers, such as Voltaire and Rousseau. These men taught the concept of deism, the idea that the Creator isolates Himself from His Creation, leaving human beings to fully govern themselves and the world. Deism was really the precursor to atheism, another belief that conditions man to tyranny. Warburton describes how in his day there were philosophers who taught that a measurement for truth would be laughter, since the brain was natural, it would know what was true and what was false, and would thus push one to laugh. Today we see this way of thinking where most are deistic saying that we all worship the same God. Today people of such elitist persuasion declare everything spiritual, traditional and sublime as "laughable." Just look at comment sections to what we write and what others write about us and count how many "laughable" you find.
It was when all this evil took over the minds in Europe we see the spark of revolution. This was so precisely prophesied. Carefully examine this story just before the French Revolution:
"Thirteen years before the first French Revolution of 1792, a venerable old priest, L’ Abbé Beauregard, ascended the pulpit on a Sunday, to deliver the usual sermon to a large and select audience in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. He began the discourse, and for some time he proceeded in the ordinary calm style of preaching. But all of a sudden this venerable old priest appeared invested with a prophetic spirit. His usually pallid countenance became flushed with a preternatural fire. With a louder tone of voice, and burning words, he announced as certain impending calamities over France, and the city of Paris in particular, and he gave an anticipated history of their future horrors to the astonished multitude. With the voice and spirit of a prophet, he spoke of the dethronement of the king, of the intended profanation and spoliation of churches and altars, of the entire abolition of feasts and divine worship. “In this holy temple,” he said, “bloody and lewd songs will be substituted for sacred psalms and holy hymns.” Then, turning towards the sanctuary of Notre Dame, and with his right hand trembling with emotion, pointing to the grand, high altar, “There,” the holy priest exclaimed, with a voice choked with anguish, — “there upon that sacred tabernacle the goddess of reason, the impure Venus, in the real person of a living infamous female, will receive incense and divine homage from impious and lustful men.” It is more easy to imagine than to describe the surprise and commotion produced by these words in that large assembly. Very few in the audience were willing to believe these prophetic predictions. The venerable preacher was severely criticized and censured both by the laity and by the clergy. Those who had the greater cause for fear were the loudest and boldest in their condemnation of the supposed indiscretion of the old priest. The news of the occurrence spread through the city, and was soon brought to the Royal Palace. Everywhere the conduct of the preacher at Notre Dame was disapproved and condemned. The holy priest had to suffer. But in a few years the events verified the prophecy. Hundreds of witnesses saw with their own eyes in tears the realization of the predictions made to their incredulous ears. Some of the principal persons, who were the least disposed to give credit to the prophetic words of the saintly Abbé Beauregard, were in less than fourteen years brought in disgrace to the fatal guillotine erected in the square De Grevé, in sight of that very cathedral now sacrilegiously profaned, where they heard the prophetic warning, — a warning they heeded not then, but which in their sad condition they remembered, to admire and implore the goodness and mercy of God. Therefore, “Extinguish not the spirit. Despise not prophecies. But prove all things, and hold that which is good.” We may believe as certain that before any grave event transpires in any city, province, kingdom, God always gives beforehand warnings to mankind. Now, more directly to our point."
It is always the case. The prophets are the least appreciated. But in Scripture God commanded to not hold back prophecy. The rejection of it is a sign of fallen away laity and clergy. The more the prophecy reveals they have more to loose, the more they complain.
Look at today. The more you denounce the sodomite, the more that their enablers quote and generalize scripture to attack the historic interpretation of Romans 1 regarding the sodomites as "worthy of death". They would generalize as if a kid was caught steeling from a cookie jar as if he is just as guilty as the sodomite.
Peter in Arabic is Butrus. I say that today, the spiritual warfare is between the sons of Butrus and the sons of Brutus. The sons of Brutus will always accuse the sons of Butrus of bruteness when they are the real brutes.
These last years we witness a serious and sudden change. To reject calling all evil as evil is met by instant accusations, so if you condemn Islam, alongside lets say homosexuality, or Buddhism, or any other 'isim', you are painted as 'brute' by the sons of Brutus who insist we only condemn Islam since Islam is their only bone of contention and their only pet satan. Today we are told by the sons of Brutus only to condemn their pet satan. So if Muslim immigrants are their only pet satan, dare we speak against all the other satans they espouse and worship. Be a son of Butrus. In fact, the sons of Brutus opened the gates of Europe, they brought in the wild beasts (the Muslims) to persecute the Church. Who else but Protestant Germany that opened the floodgates of the Red Dragon, the neo-Ottomans spewing the Dragon's flood, the hordes of Muslim immigrants, into the heart of Europe while demanding Catholic Poland to also open its gates?
They find their pet satan, the Muslim, in order to declare war also on the Christian. These are the sons of Brutus which include deists, national socialists, believers in eugenics, evolutionists, masonic ...
Today the prophecies of Cistercian Abbey of Orval is no longer mysterious or obscure:
Howl, ye Sons of Brutus. Call upon you the wild beasts, which are ready to devour you. God alone is great! What booming of arms! There is not yet a full number of moons, and, behold, many warriors are coming.
"The sons of Brutus" is a metaphor for the fallen-away Europeans. The wild beasts are the Muslim hordes and also the coming invasions by the neo-Ottomans. The prophecy continues:
"What fire goes together with his arrows! ... Woes to thee, populous city! Behold kings armed by the Lord! . . . But fire hath already burned thee to the ground. . . . Thy just ones, however, shall not perish; God has heard them; the place of wickedness is purged by fire; the ample river has carried to the sea its waters all red with blood."
God will spare "the just ones" while purging is by the fire of war. Arrows are missiles that will destroy Paris. The Bible mentions "arrows":
“You thrust through with his own arrows the head of his villages. They came out like a whirlwind to scatter me; their rejoicing was like feasting on the poor in secret” (Habakkuk 3:14).
"It is finished. The mountain of God, desolated (the Church), has cried to God, the children of Juda have invoked God from a strange land, and, behold, God is no longer deaf."
This probably pertains to the wings of eagles carrying the children of Judah or the Christians or both to a safe place after the persecution where God finally hears the Church's plight and acts.
"France (continues the Prophecy D’Orval), France, that appeared dilacerated, is on the point of being re-united. God loves peace. Come, young Prince, leave the Island of Captivity. Join the lion to the white flower. Come. God wills what has been foreseen. The ancient blood of centuries will also put an end to long divisions. Then shall be seen in France one shepherd only."
The rise of Christian militarism will take place in these days where theology is refined to be the historic teaching and the church is one.
Europe must endure persecution by also Muslims. Although Islam was the main threat to Christendom from before Martin Luther and during Luther and after Luther, yet to Luther, the more insignificant the Turk was made, the better it was for Luther’s theological arguments. Luther’s reaction to the Ottoman beast had terrible consequences. While Luther’s main paradigm in his eschatological interpretations turned out false, Luther believed that the Turks were ‘a chastisement,’ ‘a scourge’ and a ‘rod in the hand of God’ to ‘bring Christians to repentance’. Luther, instead of encouraging preparedness, he instructed fatalism. He turned to becoming truly a false prophet. In his view he predicted:
"The Turks would never conquer European Christianity; they [the Turks] would never be conquered by European Christianity. They would always oppress Christianity militarily.” (Eschatology And The Turks by Nicholas Proksch from Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary)
“the Turk ―has good fortune in waging war against Christians and usually gains the upper hand and obtains the victory… ”
In other words, when it comes to Ottoman victory, to Luther it was “God wills it” and so, not much, should be done about it.
Luther viewed the Holy Roman Empire as "the beast," which also included Europe. Therefore, he took the side of the Muslims until they threatened Germany itself then he changed his mind.
To Luther, the Ottomans where the little horn that uproots only three. Using Luther’s textual isolation, he believed that the Ottomans resembled no danger to Europe (especially Germany) since they can only knock out and uproot three horns from the Roman Empire and nothing more since in his view only the Catholic Roman Empire was "the beast". Luther’s false prophecies should be a lesson which must be revealed and exposed since the bulk of Protestant Christians still follow a similar error. Fitting a handful biblical verses without applying all other verses has been incredibly the most dangerous outcome to western Protestant Christian society.
Yet when it comes to Catholic prophecy, so many prophecies with pin-point accuracy were foretold and fulfilled. For example, St. Bridget was the daughter of a royal prince of Sweden, called Birger, and of Ingeburgis, a lady descended from the kings of the Goths. Bridget was born in 1304. Napoleon was prophesied about:
"The Eagle (of Napoleon) will also invade Mahometan countries (Egypt and Syria), and will carry the admirable sign in the land of promise. Peace and abundance shall return to the world. But shortly after new wars shall break out. Woe to you, Venice! Woe to you, Lucca and Genoa, Italian republics! Woe, because after the year 1790 you shall all be pulled down by the hands of the French. "
It even continues till the tribulations:
"Then in Europe there will be very many wicked men. New wars! wars carried on with much cruelty and fierceness [then the French Revolution], many cities shall be destroyed, an innumerable quantity of men shall be killed, the very head of the world shall be shaken. This most unhappy war shall end, when an emperor of Spanish origin will be elected, who will in a wonderful manner be victorious through the Sign of the Cross. He shall destroy the Jewish and the Mahometan sects; he will restore the church of Santa Sophia (in Constantinople), and all the Earth shall enjoy peace and prosperity; and new cities will be erected in many places." (2)
Much cruelty and fierceness then the French Revolution? Indeed. Who would a few years ago believe that we would see devils behind masks marching in force in Berlin today:
There is much to glean from Catholic prophecy. St. Francis di Paola (1416 – 1508) "The holy man was favored with an eminent spirit of prophecy. Among other instances, for three years before it happened, he several times foretold the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, which prophecy was verified May 24, 1453, under the personal command of Mahomet II. He also foretold that Otranto, one of the most important places in, and the key of, the Kingdom of Naples, would fall into the hands of the same [Muslim] infidels, which, in fact, happened in August, 1480. But he also promised the Christians, and especially the pious John, Count of Arena, one of the generals of Ferdinand I, king of Naples, certain success the following year, when, in reality, the Christian army recovered that most important city, and drove the Turks completely out of Italy."
St. Francis di Paola that saintly prophet "died April 2, 1508, in his new convent at Plessis, near Paris, where his body remained incorrupt in the church until the impiety of the Calvinist Protestants in 1562 dragged it through the public streets, and burned it at a fire which they had made from the sacred wood of a large cross and holy crucifix. (See Butler’s Lives of the Saints, 2d April.) What difference is this from what Muslims would do? Nothing.
THERE IS ONLY ONE CHURCH
Why is it that schismatics are experts in mathematics, always calculating the date of His coming, blood moons, this and that ... yet they do not understand the number ONE? Christ announced only ONE Church, yet here we are five centuries later arguing that one is not one but twenty thousand. God gave His only ONE begotten Son. “HE shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the end of the Earth.” (Ps. lxii. 8.) The eternal and consubstantial Son of God became man for the redemption and salvation of mankind. For God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting. (St. John iii. 16.)
Faith, then, in Jesus Christ became an essential condition for man to obtain eternal salvation. Hence our Lord Jesus Christ said: Father, the hour is come: glorify thy son, that thy son may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he may give life everlasting to all whom thou hast given him. And this is life everlasting, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John xvii. 3.)
In conformity with these divine dogmas, Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, went forth among men; and through the brilliant example of his holiness, by his wonderful and frequent miracles, by the sublimity of his heavenly doctrines, he attracted to his saving faith a large number of proselytes.
But the maxims of the gospel being opposed to the perverse spirit and corrupt practices of the world, this world has been ever obstinately hostile to the doctrines and to the practices of genuine Christianity. Hence the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said: What do we, for this man, Jesus, doeth many miracles? If we let him alone so, all men will believe in him. (St. John ii. 47.) These wily and powerful men of the world, having in their secret conventicle taken council together, come to the determination to condemn Jesus to death, and thus with the same blow put an end to his new doctrine and religion. The sentence of death was soon pronounced in an official form, and immediately executed upon this innocent and Divine victim with extreme barbarity. The wicked man, we read in the Book of Proverbs, — the wicked man impudently hardeneth his face . . . But there is no wisdom, there is no prudence, there is no counsel against the Lord. (Prov. xxi. 29.) The death of Jesus Christ proved to be his most complete victory over sin and Hell; and his resurrection soon became his most glorious triumph over all his present and future enemies in the world. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; therefore God hath exalted him, and given to him a name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in Heaven, on Earth, and under the Earth; and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father. (Phil. ii. 8.)
The Jewish priests and hypocritical Pharisees condemned our Divine Savior to death in order to deprive him of some few thousand followers; and behold! he receives from the Godhead the empire of the universe, and the most absolute power and dominion over all creatures. He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river (the Roman Tiber) unto the ends of the Earth. (Ps. clxxi. 8.) Hence, immediately after his resurrection our Divine Master could say to his Apostles: All power is given to me in Heaven and upon Earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. (Matt. xxviii. 18.) He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned. (Mark xvi. 16.) In the world you shall have distress, but have confidence; I have overcome the world. (John xvi. 33.) Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world. (Matt. xxviii. 18) And they going forth preached everywhere, the Lord co-operating with them, and confirming the word with signs that followed. (Mark xvi.)
In obedience to the directions received from their Divine Lord and Master, the Apostles began to preach and to teach in Palestine; but they were persecuted and dispersed by the Jewish magistrates. This very persecution, however, accelerated the propagation of the gospel among all other nations of the Earth with such prompt and rapid success that, a few years after, St. Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, writing to the converted Colossians, could say: The word of the truth of the gospel, which is come to you, as also it is in the whole world, bringeth forth fruit and groweth, even as it doth in you. (Col. i. 6.)
In less than a hundred years from the resurrection of our Lord, Christian churches were formed and bishoprics were established in almost all the principal cities of the Earth, but more especially in those of the vast Roman Empire. St. Peter, the infallible Vicar of Jesus Christ and Prince of the Apostles, went to fix permanently the throne of spiritual power and of supreme ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the very city of Rome, the proud capital of the pagan world. The rapid increase and spread of Christianity alarmed the Roman emperors. They resolved to extirpate this new religion from every part of their dominion. That was their hour, and all the power of darkness was in their mighty hands. During three long centuries every engine of oppression and instrument of cruelty was used to torment and put to death every known professor of the Christian religion. Christians were forced by the violence of persecution to fly into remote deserts or to bury themselves alive under the Earth in the catacombs. This made the pagan world believe and proclaim that Christianity was dead and buried. They boasted of having at last succeeded in their work of utter extermination. Some of the bloody emperors claimed as one of their greatest titles to human glory, praise, and gratitude their having blotted out from the annals of the world the hated name of Christian. But, in the words of the wise man, we shall repeat: The wicked man impudently hardeneth his face . . . But there is no wisdom, there is no prudence, there is no counsel, against the Lord.
The frost of winter may succeed in keeping down vegetation for a short time; it comes forth, however, with new vigor, as soon as it is enlivened by the genial warmth of spring and summer. The sacred blood of Christian martyrs is the prolific seed of Christianity, and the caves of the desert and of the catacombs were the living granaries preserved by Divine Providence for spreading over the face of the Earth the sound wheat of Christian faith and holiness, which soon produced rich harvests of fervent souls. The more warm blood had been shed, the earlier and more abundant was the crop of faith and virtue in the widening field of the Christian religion.
At the end of the third century, the bloody persecutor, Diocletian, was succeeded in the government of the Roman Empire by the brave, youthful Constantine, who obtained the imperial throne of his persecuting predecessor by his faith in Jesus Christ, and by his open profession of Christianity. He promptly abolished every obnoxious law from the Roman code. With his whole noble soul he thoroughly discarded the absurd impieties and idolatry of paganism, and in a few years he rejoiced to see the formerly proscribed religion of Christ established and flourishing in every part of his vast and now prosperous dominions in Europe, Asia, and Africa ...
Remember, then, and reflect that the Church of the living God is the groundwork and the pillar of truth ...
Fear not, Holy Church of the living God, for thy maker is thine husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, shall be called the Lord of the Earth, and thou shalt be founded in justice . . . No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that resisteth thee, thou shalt condemn. (Isa. liv.)
... have confidence. I have overcome the world. (St. John xvi. 33.) Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world. (St. Matt. xxviii. 18.)
...Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church. He is the Savior of the body. Christ cherisheth the Church, for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones, that we may in all things grow up in him. (Eph.iv.15.)
In short, we believe that the Church of Jesus Christ, the Roman Catholic Church, is nothing else and nothing less than the expansion, the extension, and the perfection of his divine incarnation. Hence we believe that, of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it with justice and with judgment from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. (Isa. ix. 6.)
This throne and kingdom of David is the spiritual kingdom of Jesus, namely, his Holy Catholic Church. We have learned this truth from the words of the Archangel Gabriel, who said to the Virgin Mary: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. (Luke i. 30.)"
This is well established. But what do we see today? This is what we see:
"A terrible confusion of ideas and practices predominates in every earthly, political, and religious system. The so-called ministers of the modern gospel are made and unmade, according to the passing whims of those who condescend to sit under their pulpits, and whom these licensed preachers study to please and flatter in order to secure a longer lease of their place and salary. This fact proves the actual realization of St. Paul’s prophecy, who wrote: There shall be a time when they (false Christians) will not bear sound doctrine, but according to their own desires they will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and will turn away indeed their hearing from the truth, and will be turned to fables. (2 Tim. iv. 3.)"
Isn't that what we see today? Mega false churches where a "false gospel" is taught, that pastors "secure a longer lease of their place and salary ..."
But despite what we see there will be a victory "this final victory and glorious triumph of the Catholic Church is announced by the actual accomplishment of the great prophecy made two thousand and six hundred years ago by the holy Prophet Isaias, and confirmed about two thousand years hence by the greatest of all prophets. (Luke iii. 5.) The following are their words: —
Be comforted, be comforted, my people, saith your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her; for her evil is come to an end. The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see the salvation of God. . . . Behold, the Lord God shall come with strength, and his arm shall rule. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work is before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom. (Isa. Xl. 3.)"
SOURCES
The Christian Trumpet (1875).
(1) "The famous Archbishop of Rheims, Hincmar, who lived in the ninth century, says that St. Remigius, on the eve of Christmas, made to Clovis the following prophecy. This prophecy is related by the great ecclesiastical historian Baronius in the years 494 and 512, in his Ecclesiastical Annals (Annales Ecclesiasticae). Many other authors, in different ages and in different countries, mention the same. Among them, Vincent de Beauvais (Speculum Historiale, Tom. XX, c. 49); Gerson, in his panegyric of St. Louis, King of France; Godefrid, of Viterbo; Aimoin (Tom. V, c. 21); Hyppolitus, Bishop in Sicily, — adds that the great French monarch, who shall subject all the East, shall come about the end of the world. — Several Byzantine writers, among whom Agathias and Chalcondyle, have taken notice of this prophecy of St. Religious" (Christian Trumpet)
(2) THIS prophecy is preserved in the library of the Capuchin Fathers, in Genzano, between Albano and Veletri, near Rome, which has been transcribed from a copy dated 1776
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