Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00 Avi, Maria Perez, Sema neither father my son, Holy Spirit. Amen. On last Sunday of the liturgical year in the first Sunday of advent, the church asks us to consider the end of the world, so we'll do that. As usual, the courts will be edited and cut and paste it before we get into it. Let's note that in today's Gospel and elsewhere, our Lord has commanded us to read the signs of the Times. Watch you. Therefore, because you know not at what hour, your Lord will come. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watch us. Plus it is you that watch it. Now, obviously this is an exciting topic, but we're not supposed to have a chicken little, the sky's falling sort of conniption fit when we, when we think about it, the great Belgian Jesuit St John Bertrand's gives us a perfect example of how we ought to act when we think about this very topic.
Speaker 0 00:55 One day during the time assigned for recreation, St John Bertrand's with his fellow Jesuits, scholastics were shooting pool and one of them asked him, Hey John, if you found out the world was going to end right now, what would you do? He kept lying up his shot and he said, I'd keep right playing billiards. Now, what's the point? Saint John Bertrand's was supposed to be taking recreation and he was, and he's supposed to be in a state of grace, and he was, in other words, he was doing just what you're supposed to be doing it at that moment, and our Lord expects us to be doing our duty when he comes again. So if we're in a state of grace and we're doing our duty, we're all right. The most important thing is not when in his truly live, but how we die. The most important thing is to die in the state of grace.
Speaker 0 01:46 If we die in this kid of grace, we're going to be all right. Okay, then we're safe. That's the most important thing. The one thing that matters. All right, so much for an introduction. Let's turn to the topic at hand. Today we're going to consider what we've been told about the state of the world, about the moral climate of the world before the second coming. There's a fascinating past. It's in the catechism of the Catholic Church, which speaks of that moral climate, the moral climate of the end times quote before Christ's second coming, the church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers, the persecution that accompanies or pilgrimage on earth, one veil, the mystery of iniquity in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth to supreme religious deceptions that the anti Christ a suit of Messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah.
Speaker 0 02:49 Come in the flesh, close quote the catechism of the Catholic Church. The church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers in the form of a religious deception offering men and apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. So the catechism is speaking explicitly of an apostasy from the truth. So prior to penetrating in to the particular pronounces we find in sacred scripture, let's pause for a moment and consider exactly what it is. When we forget the word truth, it seems like a funny thing to have to talk about, but those are the days we live in true. There are two common usages for the word truth. Truth commonly refers either to truth and understanding that is to say truth in our judgment, which is also known as logical truth or truth in speech, which is also known as moral truth.
Speaker 0 03:50 So logical truth is truth and judgment and moral truth is truth. In speech, logical truth means in agreement of mind with the thing. This is my hand. That's an altar rail that's a statue of the blessed Virgin Mary. So truth, when you're talking about logical truth, we're talking about a judgment which agrees with reality. The correspondence between my mind and the thing err is a judgment that doesn't agree with reality. For example, I think that Saint Anne, my mind is not corresponded thing so much for logical truth. What about moral truth? Moral Truth means the agreement of my speech with my mind. In other words, when we say what we think that's true, when we say what we, when we say is not what we think, that's false and everybody knows that's a lie. So logical truth means the agreement of the mind where the thing moral truth means the agreement of the speech with the mind.
Speaker 0 04:50 All right, so we're considering what we've been told about the state of the world, about the moral climate of the world before the second coming. We've seen that the catechism says the church must pass for the final trial that will shake the faith of many believers and the form of a religious deception offering men and apparent solution to their problems at a price of apostasy from the truth. Let's turn to the scriptures. As we tackle this question today, we're going to see that we've been given a fairly detailed description about the general moral state of the individuals living in the end times, and that scripture is very clear, very specific as regarding truth and the reaction of men who live in the last days to truth. We'll start by focusing on the state of individuals in the last days and then we'll pull back to get a more panoramic view of the state of society itself at that terrible time.
Speaker 0 05:47 Second Timothy Three one and following quote, but know this, that in the last days dangerous times will come. Men will be lovers of covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, criminal, heartless, faithless, slanders, incontinent, mercy, Lis, unkind, treacherous, stubborn, puffed up with pride, loving pleasure more than God having an appearance indeed of piety, but to Sonja, it's power. These men also resist the truth for their corrupt and mind reprobate as regards the faith. Close quote, the inspired, inerrant word of God. That's quite a list. If we had the time, we could easily spend an hour just unpack unpacking implications in that in this one scripture, but we'll just touch on a few of the points very quickly. In the last days, men will be puffed up with pride and lovers of self. There'll be faithless to the point of being reprobate, meaning they have so abused grace that is a just punishment.
Speaker 0 07:00 They'll no longer seriously intelligently care about their eternal salvation. There'll be incontinent, meaning there'll be gluttons and burn with lust, and so not surprisingly, they'll love pleasure more than God. They will have an appearance of potty without the virtue coordinates. Elap today explains, this means they will profess to be Christians, although they will be both very wicked in their works and perverse in their ideas and because metal integrity's clouded by various lesson vices, their minds will be corrupted and they'll be resistant to truth, resistance to truth. In the first chapter of his letter to the Romans, Saint Paul discusses his sin and its consequences in some detail, resisting the truth. Excerpts from Romans one for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth for what can be known about God is plain to them.
Speaker 0 08:07 So they're without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened, claiming to be wise, they became fools. Okay, so that's plain enough wickedness, uh, in their wickedness, they've rejected the known truth by sinning against the known truth. Their minds have become darkened. Whenever we sin, our minds are darkened and our wills are weakened. That's scary enough. Now listen to this claiming to be wise, they became fools. Therefore, God gave them up in the les of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonor their bodies among themselves. Okay? So they've sinned it by darkening their minds against light of reason, and as a consequence, God gives them up to impurity. Now that raises the question, what does the scripture me, when it states that God gives them up to impurity?
Speaker 0 09:00 Saint John Chris System says that in punishment of their willful blindness, they're willful rejection of the known truth. God permitted them to fall into the fall list, most shameful and unnatural sins of uncleanness. In other words, as a just punishment for their pride as a just punishment for the willful blindness snare, God withdraws His grace and this permits them to fall in those shameful sins. We'll hear about those right now. Back to the scripture is edited for this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural. The men likewise gave up naturally relations with women were consumed with passion, committing shameless acts and receiving their own persons to do penalty for their. Now we've talked about this before. A people who reject known truth are doomed to blindness in the worst kinds of perversity. And as we turn back to the scriptures, we'll see that an outbreak of San Francisco behavior isn't the only result of denying the known truth.
Speaker 0 10:05 Listen carefully to this list of sinful vicious behaviors that sprout up in the wake of denying the known truth. St Paul, and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base minded improper conduct. They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife to see malignity. They're gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who do such things deserve to die. They not only do them but approve those who practice them. Close call inspired, inerrant word of God. So there is a terrifying list of the rotten fruits of resisting the known truth.
Speaker 0 11:05 We'll continue by turning to first Timothy four one and two now the spirit expressly says that in the last times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to spirits of air and doctrines of devils. Speaking lies hypocritically and having their conscience seared close quote inspired in her word of God. Now that's really interesting. Every day in the last Gospel, which is of course the beginning of the gospel of Saint John. Every day in the last Gospel we hear our Lord called the word. In fact, we all genuflect at that phrase, and the word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us. Okay? Now, Saint John wrote his gospel in Greek. The Greek word that Saint John used. Here is logos. Logos is Greek for word. In other words, we could say the logos was made flesh and dwelt amongst us. So our Lord is the word. Our Lord is the logos.
Speaker 0 12:00 Logos is the Greek word for word. Okay, so what Padre, why would we care that logos is the Greek word for word, and we could call it a love the logos. Let's go back to the scripture real quick then we'll see why and the last time. Some will depart from the faith word for that pasta. See, gimme heats the spirit of Aaron doctrines of devils. That's pretty self explanatory. The last time some of this, apart from the faith given heats the spirit of air, doctrines of devils, speaking lies, hypocritically speaking lies if it critical. The Greek word here used for lies is pseudo locals. Pseudo logos. Pseudo means false men of a pasta, size and fall. Demons falling, speaking false words. Hypocritically under another words, under the pretense they're true. And then if we look at today's Gospel in the Greek we read at the end of the world, there'll be pseudo Christ's.
Speaker 0 12:49 I'm not going to read the Greek part of it. And there's pseudo a prophet profits. And the cometary refers you to a Saint Peter Second Peter Chapter two where it talks about the pseudo teachers, false Christ, false prophets, false teachers, false words, false Christs, false prophets, false takers. Okay? So scripture makes this absolutely remarkable contrast. On the one hand we have the true teacher, the true profit, the true word, the true Christ, the true logos who was made flesh and dwelt amongst jus who speaks only true words. And it's commissioned men and set them out guided by the Holy Spirit to teak only the true gospel. So that's on the one hand. And on the other hand, we have the warning from scripture and last days of a false Christ and false prophets and false teachers performing false signs and false wonders in preaching a false faith with false words, hypocritical false words, doctrines of devils spoken by men that have a pasta sized who are guided by evil spirits. It's an amazing contrast between truth
Speaker 1 13:56 and falsity.
Speaker 0 13:59 Speaking of the great signs and wonders performed by the false Christs and false prophets, which will seduce many corniness elap today explains it. The people will not be seduced quote by the strength of the seducers, but by the negligence of those being seduced close call. In other words, in those days, if someone is to do this by a false prophet or false teacher, it will be due to his own negligence. It'll be his own fault. Those are seduced by these lies are seduced because they want to be seduced. Okay, so we've been considering the meeting or this scripture. The spirit expressly says that in the last time, some will depart from the faith, giving heeds to spirit of air and doctrines of devil speaking lies hypocritically and having their conscience seared. Let's quickly consider that last clause. Having their seared coordinates, the Lapu, they explained that this phrase, having a seared conscience should be understand, understood as meaning having a moral corruption that is so complete that the person is hardened in its evil ways and she has a complete loss of the sense of sin. In other words, he's become a repro break.
Speaker 1 15:11 Yeah.
Speaker 0 15:12 That's the worst possible state in this life. Well, continue by turning to second Timothy four three and falling for there will come a time when they will not endure the sound doctrine, but having itching ears will heap up to themselves teachers according to their own less, and they will turn away from hearing the truth and turn off side rather to fables. The commentary points out that the heres will run after novelties and teaching, which favors their passions. Corniness elap comments. Many more men devoted essential pleasures will seek teachers similar to themselves, who will lead them away from Assan faith and the discipline of a Christian life to heretical errors in la essential life and Krupp morals. These men full of vain and carnal desires have itching ears. In other words, they love to hear novel things, curious things soft and a feminine things, essential things these men shall seek for themselves. Teachers who will not sting them with words or scrape away their vices, rather other teachers who will deceive them into believing what they wish regarding their sins by preaching pleasantries worthy of applause.
Speaker 1 16:20 Okay.
Speaker 0 16:22 In other words, they don't. They won't want to hear the truth because it'll hurt. They don't want to hear the truth because it means it has to change their sinful and disordered ways of life and their sinful and disordered ways of thinking. They'd rather have teachers affirm them in their sins. They would have rather preachers lie to them. They'd rather have preachers tell them myths and pleasantries. They'd rather have teachers tell them what they want to hear than correct their false beliefs and vices and perhaps hurt their feelings. They want teachers, they'll tell them things like, how do you know it's wrong? Unless you've tried it, your body, your choice. Don't worry. God made you that way. You can file your appetites as long as no one gets hurt. The sin of Sodom was just a lack of hospitality. Well, yes, there is a hell, but no one goes there. You don't really think a loving God would actually send anyone there, do you? Don't be so dogmatic. There are many paths to heaven. It's not as sin. No one takes Humana Vitay. Seriously, you're just being responsible. It's sinful to be in union with the conceal your church.
Speaker 0 17:47 Okay. We've taken a quick look at a few scriptures which speak of the moral state of men and last days, what have we seen? We've seen that in those days the men will be puffed up with pride and self love. They'll love pleasure more than God. They'll profess to be Christian, but there'll be both very wicked in their works and perverse and their ideas, they'll be resistant to the truth. We've seen it, this rejection of the known true domes of people, the blindness and the worst kind of sins and perversity. We've considered detailed list of those sins and we've seen it. Scripture explicitly teaches that all those such people know that those who do these kinds of wicked things deserve to die. Nonetheless, they not only do them, but approve others who are practicing them. We've seen in the last time that we false Christs and false prophets and false teachers performing false signs and false wonders and preaching a false faith with false words, hypocritical false words, doctrines of devils spoken by men of apostasizes and are guided by evil spirits, and that those who are seduced by these lies are seduced because they want to be seduced.
Speaker 0 18:56 We've seen that men won't want to hurt them. Here's the truth, because it'll hurt. It means they'll have to change your sinful and disordered ways of life and the ways of thinking we've seen. They'd rather have teachers, affirmed them in their sins and lied to them than correct their false beliefs and a fight is and hurt their feelings. And we've seen that resistance. The truth results in a moral corruption so complete that a man becomes hardens evil ways and suffers the complete loss of a sense of sin, which is commonly known as being a reprobate. So if we're going to summarize what we've seen thus far, the last times we characterize by social atmosphere that's absolutely based in lies and deception filled with people that are deliberately and obstinately resistant to the truth and therefore live with darkened minds and to pray morals. We're getting a clear picture with the catechism means when it states the church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers in the form of a religious deception offering men and apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from truth. Now we're going to take more panoramic view of the moral atmosphere in second Thessalonians two three we read quote, let no one deceive you in any way for the day. The Lord will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the Madison is revealed the son of perdition.
Speaker 0 20:22 Here we see that scripture explicitly teaches the day of Lord Judgment Day. The end of the world can't come unless there first being apostasy, a great falling away from the true fate, a great revolt against the true faith. And then in the wake of that apostasy, in the midst of it, the great apostasy, the man, his son sin the Senate perdition, the antichrist will be revealed. Plus it, John Henry Newman summarizing the teaching, the fathers on this point states the fierce and lawless principle which historically as repressed by the governing powers will finally break completely loose in those terrible times, spawning heresy, citizen sedition, revolution and war. And he states that quote, the coming of Christ will be immediately proceed by very often unparalleled outbreak of evil call by Saint Paul and apostasy of falling away in the midst of which to certain terrible man of sin and child, the perdition, the special and singled enemy of Christ. Antichrist will appear that this will be when revolutions prevail and the present Framer Cup society breaks to pieces.
Speaker 0 21:34 Close quote, so there've been absolutely terrible, unprecedented outbreak of evil during which society will be torn into pieces by apostasy heresy, CISM sedition revolutions in war. Now, before we go any farther, we'll pause briefly to make sure we all understand which he what each of those terms mean apostasy. Apostasy means baptized person completely reject Christianity, holding a tire, chucks it overboard and either embraces a non Christian religion, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, satanism or has no religion whatsoever. That's a mortal sin against the faith and apostate loses the faith and God is under absolutely no obligation to give it back to him. Cornea celebrity. There's no sir sign of reprobation than anyone should apostasizes from the faith. Harrison Harrison. He means a baptized person per tenaciously denies or dots and it revealed truth to the Catholic faith. In other words, he stubbornly devote and denies the revealed truth even when he's been shown to be wrong.
Speaker 0 22:46 Nowadays, heretics are often called decenters. Coney Isa Lapidus heresy is Greek for choosing a heritage, therefore is one who chooses what he will believe and therefore does not believe those things which must be believed according to the teachings, the doctors and the church. So this is also a mortal sin against the faith of Herrick tick loses the faith and again, God is under absolutely no obligation to give it back. Twin CISM CISM occurs when either a group or even an individual while preserving the true faith, nevertheless, voluntarily, knowingly, and deliberately separates himself from the unity of the church, either by refusing to submit to the authority of the pope and order remain in communion with those who are subject to it. CISM has been called the crystallization of orthodox descent. Koininia, Salafi de CISM is a grave and savage sin because of the wrong done to Christ. Saint Cyprian and Saint Jerome teach it's his medics are worse than the men who crucified Christ because it seemed like garment, namely the church is torn and separated, which not even the Jews and Gentiles who crucified Christ dared to do.
Speaker 0 24:05 Unlike apostasy and heresy. Pure CISM is not a sin against the fate because it says madic individual group has maintained the faith. What they've done is cut themselves off from the vine. Over time. CISM typically creates in this heresy because it becomes necessary to deny the primacy of the pope, but as such, CISM is a mortal sin against charity. Sedition. Sedition is the crime of string up revolt disturbance or vods against lawful civil authority with intent to cause its overthrow or destruction. Sedition has to do with organizing and encouraging opposition to government rather than directly participate in it's overthrow. It's a mortal sin against peace. Revolution. Revolution is the usually violent attempt by many people to end the rule of one government and start a new one. So that's the big picture and the terms, the moral climate of society and end times. At the time of the great apostasy, this great rebellion, there'll be a terrible, unprecedented outbreak of evil.
Speaker 0 25:09 Society will be racked by apostasy, heresy, CISM, sedition, revolutions, war and societal breakdown. We'll turn back to scripture, second fest alone, eons to nine and following and is coming. We're speaking the coming, the antichrist and his coming as according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all wicked deception to those who are perishing for they have not received the love of truth that they might be saved. Therefore, God shall send them the operation of air that they might believe falsehood that all may be judged to have not believed the truth, but it preferred wickedness, but we breath and beloved of God our bond to give thanks to God always for you because God has chosen you as first fruits in a salvation to the sanctification, Spirit and belief, the truth, close quote, inspired, inerrant word of God. Now, this is very, very interesting. In the midst of this chaos, in the midst of the societal breakdown and great apostasy, the antichrist will appear with satanic power and satanic signs and lying wonders. The Greek here has pseudo miracles and with all wicked deception, we've already seen that with the other false prophets and other false Christ, but it's really important. It's noticed who was going to be deceived. The scriptures absolutely clear. As I read this passage again, pay close attention to exactly who is going to be deceived by the antichrist. Cool.
Speaker 0 26:44 Those who are perishing have received not the love of truth that they might be saved. Therefore, God shall send in the operation of air that they might believe falsehood that all may be judged to have not believed the truth, a preferred wickedness, close quote. So who exactly is going to be deceived? Men that don't want to hear the truth because it will hurt because it means they're going to have to swallow their pride and change your sinful disordered ways of life and their sinful disordered ways that thinking men who would rather have their leaders affirmed them in their sins and lie to them, then correct their false beliefs and vices and perhaps have their feelings hurt. Men who'd not love the truth and refused to receive it. Men who would rather believe false words from false teachers than believed. The true words from the two word of God and a man who are seduced by these lies are seduced because they want to be seduced. Since they don't love the truth, God will permit them to have what they do want and what they do love, which is the lie.
Speaker 0 27:47 What does it mean to say that God was send the operation air that they may believe falsehood that all may be judged to have not believed the truth but it perverted wickedness? The Haydock commentary explains it. This means that God shall allow them to be deceived by lying wonders and false miracles as a punishment of they're not loving the truth. In other words, when it says that God was sending the operation of error, it doesn't mean he will cause him to believe the lies. After all, God desires the salvation of all men. It will be heretical to deny that God does. It doesn't mean in other words that God will cause them to believe the lies, but rather than as a just punishment for the rejection, the known truth. As a judge, punishment for their willful and stubborn blindness, narrow. He's going to withdraw his grace and the result of him withdrawing this grace will permit them to be deseed by the antichrist.
Speaker 0 28:39 It's very sobering when it says that the reason this will happen is quote, that all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but a perverted wickedness. Close quote, the Greek here word used here for judge means to be judged, condemned, and punished, and why? For refusing to believe the truth, those who don't want to fall Christ, those don't want to believe the believing is the teaching of his church. Those who want to live the way they want to live will believe the lie and they'll fall the antichrist. It's that simple. We're also told who's not going to be to see first 12 but we brethren, beloved of God, our bond to give thanks to God always for you because God has chosen you as first fruits unto salvation through the sanctification, Spirit
Speaker 1 29:27 and belief for the truth.
Speaker 0 29:30 The operation of air in the marvelous and seduction of the antichrist will not deceive those who love and believe in the truth. In May of 1897 probably the 13th state in his in sickle call on the holy spirit quote, who shall ever fail if by weakness or ignorance, may perhaps have some excuse before all mighty God, but he who resists the truth through malice and turns away from it. Sins most grievously against the holy ghost,
Speaker 1 30:02 just close. Cool.
Speaker 0 30:04 He will resist the truth through mouse and turns away from it. Sins most grievously against the holy ghost. We're all familiar with that terrifying statement of our Lord. We can find it in the gospel of Mark Chapter Three Verse 29 He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost. He shall never have forgiveness but shall be guilty of an everlasting sin. Those are the words that truth himself, resisting the truth is one of the sins against the Holy Ghost, and I quote from a standard Catholic reference work and particular deliberate resistance to the known truth, maybe regarded as specially directed against the work of the Holy Ghost in the soul. Generally this so hard as assault to the inspirations of graves that repentance is unlikely.
Speaker 1 30:51 Close. Cool. Back to Leo the 13th
Speaker 0 30:57 whosoever fail if by weakness or ignorance may perhaps have some excuse before almighty God, but he resist the truth through malice and turns away from it sins most previously against the holy ghost. In our days, the sin has become so frequent, he's writing in 1897 in our days, the sin has become so frequent that those dark times seem to have come, which were for fall, for told by Saint Paul in which men blinded by the just judgment of God should take falsehood for true and should believe in the prince of this world who was a liar and the father thereof as a teacher of truth. As it says in second fest, Slovenians Two 10 and first Timothy Four One god shall send them the operation of air to believe lying in the last time, central depart from the faith, giving heed to spirits of air, the doctrines of devils. Close quote, the vicar of Christ. Well, you're in very good company. If you've been thinking that we may very well be living in these terrible times, our Lord said, the truth will set you free.
Speaker 1 32:13 I don't want to hear it.
Speaker 0 32:16 Our Lord said, the truth will set you free when mind is made up not going to change my ways. Aye Lord said, the truth will set you free. Rather keep my options open. My Lord said, the truth will set you free. Don't want to be
Speaker 1 32:40 <inaudible>.
Speaker 0 32:42 The Lord said, the truth will set you free. It's not that black and white. My Lord said, the truth will set you free. People might think I'm some kind of fundamentalist
Speaker 1 32:56 <inaudible>
Speaker 0 32:58 our Lord said, the truth will set you free. Can't be that bad. Everybody's doing it.
Speaker 1 33:05 <inaudible>
Speaker 0 33:09 today, today, and don't put this off before you leave throughout the day. Take the time to seriously search your mind and your heart.
Speaker 1 33:22 <inaudible>
Speaker 0 33:25 ask yourself, am I open to the truth? Am I a truth seeker or am I resistant to the truth? It's one of the most important questions you can ever ask yourself.
Speaker 1 33:48 <inaudible>
Speaker 0 33:50 ask yourself if the anti Christ appeared this week,
Speaker 1 33:53 <inaudible>
Speaker 0 33:55 who's camp would I be in? If the antichrist appears during my lifetime, whose camp will I be in? He resists the truth through malice and turns away from it sends most grievously against the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1 34:19 Okay.
Speaker 0 34:20 The church must pass through a final trial in the form of a religious deception offering men in apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy.
