The world seems to be a darker place than I have known in my 56 years on this planet. Once long ago, there was a faith; a religion of the one true God that in circled the world called Christendom. A Christ centered religion that covered the globe. Jesus, the one and only Son of God came into the world to save the world from it’s sins. Now this faith is reduced to a few, a remnant.
This age has seen the coming of a King, a suffering servant who came to undo the evils of a sinister dragon who rules this world through unseen forces and spirits.
Long ago in a simple land, of simple and humble people, a child was born of a woman in a small village called Bethlehem. This child was destined to be King, but first he would have to suffer and endure many hardships and afflictions. We must start at the beginning, further back, at the beginning of the age.
It all began with the creator, Yahweh who spoke into existence the world and all the creatures that live in the world. The Creator said, “let there be” and his word came into being. The world was created and all that was in it; the earth, vegetation, creatures, and man himself was brought to be by the very word of Yahweh God. This God was the God of all; of men and of angels. Angels were celestial beings created to serve God. For in the beginning Yahweh said, “let there be light, and there was light.” This very light, which is refered to, was the angels. But Lucifer (meaning: morning star) one of the greatest angels of heaven rebelled against God and convinced a third of the angels to turn against God. This rebellion was seen in heaven as the first war; from which God cast Lucifer and his angels down to earth from heaven. Lucifer became known as Satan or the devil, and inhabits the world trying to controls those of this age through lies and deception. He is also known as the prince of the power of the air.
Yahweh God also decided to create man from the soil of the ground and blew the breath of life into his nostrils, and man became a living being. God placed this man in the midst of a garden, called Eden, to cultivate it and care for it. This first man was named Adam.
Then Yahweh God commanded Adam, “You are free to eat of all the trees of the garden. Except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you are not to eat of it; for the day you eat of it, you are doomed to die.”
The man Adam gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of heaven, and all the wild animals. But no helper was found suitable for Adam. God said, “It is not right that the man should be alone. I shall make him a helper.” So Yahweh made the man fall into a deep sleep. And while he was asleep, he took one of his ribs and closed the flesh up again. Yahweh fashioned the rib into a woman, and brought her to the man Adam that she might be his wife.
The man and the woman were in a state of innocence, they were naked but felt no shame before each other.
Now the sinister Satan could take many forms and disguises in this world. So he came one day, in the form a snake, to the woman and tempted her with the fruit of the tree which God had forbid them to eat, and she did eat. And her husband also ate-they were doomed. After this they were ashamed and their eyes were opened; seeing that they were truly naked. So they hid themselves from the LORD God of heaven and earth.
The Lord God said to Satan, who took the form of a snake, “Accursed are you of all the animals wild and tame! On your belly you will go and on dust will feed as long as you live.”(Genesis 3:14) The Lord God put enmity between the women and Satan, and between his offspring and her offspring. That is why it is said,
“They will bruise your head, And you will strike their heel.”(Genesis 3:15b)
The offspring of the woman who was named Eve, because she would be the mother of all living, were the righteous people who the Lord God chose from the foundations of the world to be his. They would be in constant battle or contention with the offspring of the devil, who through the sovereign will of God and their own free will were passed over by the grace of God because of their disobedience.
History of this age reveals sin as literally a broken relationship with God, our father, and we as his family members have broken that relationship. These broken bonds can be traced back to the first union of man and woman; Adam and Eve turned from their trust in the one who made them by eating the forbidden fruit. It is not just the breaking of rules, but like rebellious children who want to go their own way, we’ve all turned away from God at many times during our lives. (Scott Hahn, “A Father Who Keeps His Promises”p.77)
We live in a world of fear, shame, anger, murder, pain, depression, isolation, alienation and death. A dark world controlled by an evil prince the devil. But the Lord God had a plan to overcome this enemy-the devil. He was to call a family, a tribe, a nation, a people to himself. We are that people;” a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)
When we choose to follow the Kingdom of God, we align ourselves not only with the offspring of that woman in the garden-Eve. But there is another woman who gave birth to a child, and by her humble obedience to Yahweh, became the mother of God’s son, a man that would become known as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The God/man: Jesus Christ.
The man Jesus Christ, born to a virgin, Mary, who became the Mother of God. How can this be? A person that is both God and man. Jesus was to be the savior of the world. He was born to live, a suffering servant, and die as a substitute for many. God the Father came down to us in the form and person of his son Jesus.
Since the fall from grace of Adam and Eve in the garden, the human race has been under a curse. This curse of original sin, that is passed down from generation to generation, is in fact the absence of the grace of God.
Jesus lived the perfect sinless life, and died a sacrificial death on a Roman cross that we might be saved from God’s wrath. Jesus taught that through the act of baptism (ritual washing) and a heart-felt trust in him we may be saved. This Baptism seals us as children of his Kingdom and imparts God’s grace to us. As children of the King we follow him by faith, and work out our faith with fear and trembling by preforming good works (acts of love) toward our fellow man, and are there by justified. Ultimately we will be glorified and reunited with God in heaven. Before then we are commanded to persevere until the end; serving our Lord in this age as Christian soldiers.
The Lord did not leave us without weapons. By the Church and his divine revelation-the Bible, he has given us an arsenal of truth and guidance for the living out of faith and morals. We are told to “Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against authorities, against cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. “(Ephesians 6:11,12) He has given us armor: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the readiness of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit (the word of God). With these weapons we are commanded to pray always in the spirit, keeping alert with all perseverance, making supplications for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:13-18)
In the histories of the twelve tribes of Israel, Joachim was an extremely rich man. He always brought a double offering to the Lord telling himself, “My offering for all the people is from my surplus and my own offering to the Lord God is for forgiveness, to atone for my sins. Joachim and his wife Anna were not able to conceive a child. Anna lamented that she was childless. They both were extremely frustrated and prayed for the Lord to bless them. As Anna was praying an angel appeared before her saying, ”Anna, Anna, the Lord God has heard your prayer. You will conceive and give birth and your child will be spoken of everywhere people live.” And the wife’s pregnancy came to term, after nine months, Anna gave birth to a girl and gave her the name Mary. Day by day, the child grew stronger. (Infancy gospel of James)
This Mary would become the new Eve, and where Eve had been disobedient she would be obedient; where Eve had lead all humanity into sin. Mary, by her humble submission to God, would be the vessel by which the savior of the world came into this world to live and walk among us.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.
The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only son from the Father. (John bore witness to him, and cried, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me.’ “) And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.”(John 1:1-18 RSV)
The testimony of John the Baptist was of the God/Man Jesus Christ. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”( John 1:1, RSV) Here we see Jesus as he was before he entered time, the pre-incarnate Christ, the Word.
The Son of Man walks onto the world stage in the introduction of John’s Gospel. This is the good news written to the whole world about a savior sent from God to save his elect people of God. Christ said of him,” Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he”(Matthew 11:11 RSV)
The Coummation of Last Things
God judges at all times; but the subject of this article is the last judgement
“Now it is a belief held by the whole Church of the true God, in private confession and also in public profession, that Christ is to come from heaven to judge both the living and the dead, and this is what we call the Last Day, the day of divine judgement–that is, the last period of time; for it is not certain for how many days this judgement will extend.”{St. Augustine, City of God, Book XX, p. 895}
God is at this very moment judging, but there will come a final day of judgement in which we stand before Almighty God in a particular judgement. But, for most of us, death must come first.
1. Death
In the current order of salvation, the origin of death is a punishment for sin. Man, by nature is made to be a mortal being. In the garden of Eden, he was given the gift of immortality. He was punished by God, because of his transgression of the divine commandment, to death.
The Council of Trent teaches in the decree on original sin, that Adam became subject to sin by transgression of the law, that God had previously threatened him with death, and Adam transmitted death to the entire human race. { Denzinger, 788 et seq. cf. D 101,175.}
Scripture tells us, “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned.”(Romans 5:12)
Saint Augustine defended this clear “de fide” teaching of the Church (original sin) against the Pelagians, who denied the original state, and so regarded death as arising from the natural decomposition of the human body alone.
In the instance of the person in a state of grace, death loses the penalty associated with it, and becomes a mere consequence of sin. Our Lord Jesus and his Mother Mary, be cause of their being without original sin, death was neither a punishment or a consequence of sin. But, to them in their human nature, death was a natural one.
All human beings subject to original sin are subject to the law of death. This generality of death is based on scripture, “It is appointed to men once to die.”(Heb. 9:27) The significance of death is that the possibility of conversion ceases, and any reward in the next world is proportional to the merits and demerits of life on earth. The doctrine of the impossibility of justification after death was projected at the First Vatican Council.
2. The Particular Judgement
After death, comes the particular judgement. This takes place by the divine decree of judgement–the eternal fate of the deceased person is decided. The Catholic Church does not teach millenarism as taught by some of the early fathers, “an empire of the Messiah, foretold a long dominion of a thousand years for Christ and the just on earth before the general resurrection, asserted accordingly, that only then will the final beatification take place. The Church also teaches against the various sects that hold to the view of an unconscious state known as soul sleep. Holy scripture implies the teaching by, “This day you shall be with me in paradise.”(Luke 23:43) The belief in a particular judgement was attested to by St. John Chrysostom, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and others.
3. Heaven
The essential bliss of heaven; the souls of the just who are free from all guilt of sin, at the time of death, will enter into heaven. As the creed says, “I believe in life everlasting.”
“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away. And he who sat upon the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new. Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.”(Revelation 20:2-5)
This city is obviously not that of a king who reigns for a thousand years. For it is very clear that every tear, God will wipe away. The words of St. Paul ring true here,” Death, where is your sting? ” Sin is the only sting of death, and without sin, for there will be no sin in heaven. We, who have a saving faith, will behold the Divine Essence face to face, immediately. The condition for achieving of eternal life is the knowledge of God and of Christ.
In addition to essential bliss of heaven, which comes from the beatific vision, there is also an accidental blessedness, that comes from the natural knowledge and love of created things. In being with Christ; reunification with Jesus and the Mother of God, and also the angels and saints. Our reunion with family and former earthly friends adds to this joy of blessedness. Jesus compares the reward for the good works with treasures in Heaven, which cannot be lost.(Mt. 6:20) This is the property of heaven.
Eternity, the bliss of Heaven lasts forever. Pope Benedict XII declared: “The vision and this enjoyment (of the Divine Essence) continues without interruption or diminution of the vision and enjoyment, and will continue until the general judgement and thenceforth for all eternity.”
The degree of perfection of the vision given to the just is proportionate to each persons merit: inequality of reward. Christ promised, “He (the son of man) will render to everyone according to his works”(Mt. 16:27)
4. Hell
The reality of Hell is that souls who die in the condition of personal grievous sin enter Hell. (De fide.) A place of eternal punishment, this place is inhabited by those who rejected God in this life, and died in a state of mortal sin. The Church rejects those sects that teach a annihilation of the godless after death. The Athanasian Creed says: “But those who have done evil will go into eternal fire.”
The nature of punishment in Hell, as conceived by the fathers, depicted by fire, gnashing of teeth, wailing, sorrow and despair. This state shall last for eternity, “smoke from their torments ( of the damned ) shall ascend up for ever and ever.”( Rev. 20:10) ” On the ground of the teaching of Revelation it is to be inferred, that the will of the damned is immovably hardened in evil and is, therefore, inaccessible to any true repentance. The reason is that God refuses all further grace to the damned.”{Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, Dr. L. Ott, p. 482}
5. Purgatory
The souls of the just will, in the moment of death, who are burdened with venial sins or temporal punishment, be sent to purgatory. This state of the soul is a place of purification from the penalty of sin. Cleansing fire is a purgation from the temporal punishment due to sin.
Scripture speaks of, ” And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor the world to come.” (Mt. 12:32) Also in I Corinthians 3:12, “If any man’s work burn, he shall suffer loss; yet he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.”
Tradition offers proof in the existence of cleansing fire can be derived from the testimony of the Fathers: St. Cyprian, St Augustine, and St. Thomas. The sanctity of the justice of God is a concept that the punishments of sins still remain to be effected, but the soul in question is united in love with God, then this forbids that they would be cast into hell. Therefore, the intermediate state of purgatory may be assumed, the purpose of which is purification.
6. The Second Coming of Christ
The eschatology of the whole of mankind is tied to the reality of the second coming of Christ. At the end of the world Christ will come again in glory to pronounce judgement. This is the “De fide” teaching of the Church, and can be seen in the Apostle’s creed: “From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.” The Parousia was held by the Thessolonians to be imminent:
” For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.”(1 Thes. 4:15-17)
There are also some signs of his second coming:
a.) The preaching of the Gospel to the whole world.
b.) The conversion of the Jews.
c.) Falling away from the faith.
d.) The appearance of Antichrist.
e.) Severe tribulations.
The time of the second coming is unknown to men. Jesus left the time of his return a secret, known only to his Father. “But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Mk. 13:32)
So let us believe, as those of Thessolonica, in the imminent return of Christ. “…to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.” –living moment by moment, Coram Deo, before the face of God.
Act of Contrition
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who are all good, and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to confess my sins, to do penance, and amend my life. Amen.
The Church’s ultimate trial
“675 Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers.574 The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth575 will unveil 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. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.576
676 The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism,577 especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism.578
677 The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection.579 The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God’s victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven.580 God’s triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world.581
* II. TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
678 Following in the steps of the prophets and John the Baptist, Jesus announced the judgment of the Last Day in his preaching.582 Then will the conduct of each one and the secrets of hearts be brought to light.583 Then will the culpable unbelief that counted the offer of God’s grace as nothing be condemned.584 Our attitude to our neighbor will disclose acceptance or refusal of grace and divine love.585 On the Last Day Jesus will say: “Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.”586
679 Christ is Lord of eternal life. Full right to pass definitive judgment on the works and hearts of men belongs to him as redeemer of the world. He “acquired” this right by his cross. The Father has given “all judgment to the Son”.587 Yet the Son did not come to judge, but to save and to give the life he has in himself.588 By rejecting grace in this life, one already judges oneself, receives according to one’s works, and can even condemn oneself for all eternity by rejecting the Spirit of love.589
680 Christ the Lord already reigns through the Church, but all the things of this world are not yet subjected to him. The triumph of Christ’s kingdom will not come about without one last assault by the powers of evil.
681 On Judgment Day at the end of the world, Christ will come in glory to achieve the definitive triumph of good over evil which, like the wheat and the tares, have grown up together in the course of history.
682 When he comes at the end of time to judge the living and the dead, the glorious Christ will reveal the secret disposition of hearts and will render to each man according to his works, and according to his acceptance or refusal of grace.
549 Rom 14:9.
550 Eph 1:20-22.
551 Eph 1:10; cf. 4:10; 1 Cor 15:24,27-28.
552 Cf. Eph 1:22.
553 LG 3; 5; cf. Eph 4:11-13.
554 1 Jn 2:18; cf. 1 Pet 4:7.
555 LG 48 § 3; cf. 1 Cor 10:11.
556 Cf. Mk 16:17-18,20.
557 Lk 21:27; cf. Mt 25:31.
558 Cf. 2 Thess 2:7.
559 LG 48 § 3; cf. 2 Pet 3:13; Rom 8:19-22; 1 Cor 15:28.
560 Cf. 1 Cor 11:26; 2 Pet 3:11-12.
561 1 Cor 16:22; Rev 22:17,20.
562 Cf. Acts 1:6-7.
563 Cf. Isa 11:1-9.
564 Cf. Acts 1:8; 1 Cor 7:26; Eph 5:16; 1 Pet 4:17.
565 Cf. Mt 25:1, 13; Mk 13:33-37; 1 Jn 2:18; 4:3; 1 Tim 4:1.
566 Cf. Rev 22:20.
567 Acts 1:7; Cf. Mk 13:32.
568 Cf. Mt 24:44; 1 Thess 5:2; 2 Thess 2:3-12.
569 Rom 11:20-26; cf. Mt 23:39.
570 Acts 3:19-21.
571 Rom 11:15.
572 Rom 11:12, 25; cf. Lk 21:24.
573 Eph 4:13; 1 Cor 15:28.
574 Cf. Lk 18:8; Mt 24:12.
575 Cf. Lk 21:12; Jn 15:19-20.
576 Cf. 2 Thess 2:4-12; 1 Thess 5:2-3; 2 Jn 7; 1 Jn 2:18,22.
577 Cf. DS 3839.
578 Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, condemning the “false mysticism” of this “counterfeit of the redemption of the lowly”; cf. GS 20-21.
579 Cf. Rev 19:1-9.
580 Cf Rev 13:8; 20:7-10; 21:2-4.
581 Cf. Rev 20:12 2 Pet 3:12-13.
582 Cf. Dan 7:10; Joel 3-4; Mal 3:19; Mt 3:7-12.
583 Cf Mk 12:38-40; Lk 12:1-3; Jn 3:20-21; Rom 2:16; 1 Cor 4:5.
584 Cf. Mt 11:20-24; 12:41-42.
585 Cf. Mt 5:22; 7:1-5.
586 Mt 25:40.
587 Jn 5:22; cf. 5:27; Mt 25:31; Acts 10:42; 17:31; 2 Tim 4:1.
588 Cf. Lk 21:12; Jn 15:19-20.
589 Cf. Jn 3:18; 12:48; Mt 12:32; 1 Cor 3:12-15; Heb 6:4-6; 10:26-31.”
(CCC. p. 176)
Christian Universal Truth 