The Antichrist & the End Times (All 4 Parts)

Part 1 00:00
Part 2 17:21
Part 3 35:55
Part 4 51:44

By Bp. Donald J. Sanborn; delivered in 2012. Subscribe to the Roman Catholic Media channel https://m.youtube.com/c/epikeya AND https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC4tnapgQIS093naJ4IcSbQw

There has always been much talk about the Antichrist and the end of times. Some people have a virtual obsession with this topic, so much so that they neglect their own spiritual lives, forgetting that understanding and figuring out every bit of divine prophecy is neither required, nor necessarily salutary, nor even possible (cf. 2 Pet 1:20; Mk 13:31-33). As St. Paul said to the Corinthians: “And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing” (1 Cor 13:2). Knowing all of God’s truths without loving Him, will only earn us eternal condemnation (cf. Jas 2:26). This is an essential caveat to keep in mind.

At the same time, although it is important not to obsess about and get too caught up in issues relating to the end times, it would also be foolish to act as though one could never talk about or try to understand these things. Holy Scripture and indeed our Blessed Lord Himself speak about the end of days and about the arrival, reign, and ultimate defeat of the Antichrist, on numerous occasions (e.g., in Mt 24; Jn 5:43; 2 Thess 2:3-11). These prophecies and sacred instructions were not given to us that we should ignore them, but that we should take them to heart and recognize the signs of the times (cf. 2 Tim 3:16-17; Mt 16:3).

Also highly recommended are Cardinal Henry Edward Manning’s discourses on the same topic, which he delivered in 1861, and which shed great light on the situation we find ourselves in today:

The Pope and the Antichrist: The Great Apostasy Foretold
https://novusordowatch.org/2015/04/the-pope-and-the-antichrist/

Interestingly enough, at this time a great many secular people agitate over some kind of “climate catastrophe” they think could spell the end of the world. We Catholics, on the other hand, know that when this world ends, it will not be from merely natural causes. In 1459, Pope Pius II condemned the idea that “the world should be naturally destroyed and ended by the heat of the sun consuming the humidity of the land and the air in such a way that the elements are set on fire” (Apostolic Letter Cum Sicut, Denz. 717a).

In the end, the earth will indeed be destroyed with fire, but this fire will be the mere instrument of the divine judgment: “But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up” (2 Pet 3:10). It is eternal climate change men should concern themselves with, not the natural climate on earth: “For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Mt 6:32-33). Not surprisingly, the Counterfeit Church of Jorge Bergoglio turns the truth on its head.

There can be no doubt that we are currently living through the Great Apostasy, the time in which the true Catholic Church is undergoing her Mystical Passion. This is proper to the Church, inasmuch as she is the Mystical Body of the Redeemer. As Pope Pius XI taught, “the expiatory passion of Christ is renewed and in a manner continued and fulfilled in His mystical body, which is the Church” (Encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor, n. 14). Thus “the society established by the Redeemer of the human race resembles its divine Founder who was persecuted, calumniated and tortured by those very men whom He had undertaken to save” (Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Mystici Corporis, n. 3).

We can take consolation in the fact that the intensely distressing time period we are now living through was prophesied and thus anticipated by the Church for 1900 years. We must be on our guard, however, not to fall prey to the astonishing and dangerous deceptions that continually enable and accompany the Great Apostasy: “For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold I have told it to you, beforehand” (Mt 24:24-25).

https://novusordowatch.org/2021/04/end-of-world-and-antichrist/

Painting:

The Deeds of the Antichrist
Luca Signorelli
Date: 1499 - 1502
Style: High Renaissance
Medium: Fresco
Location: Duomo di Orvieto, Orvieto, Italy