Showing posts with label Nostradamus. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Will This Pope Be the Last One Before Jesus' Return?

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Will This Pope Be the Last One Before Jesus' Return?

Posted on Feb 11, 2013 by Mitchell Moss 17 comments Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Will the Next Pope Be the Last One Before Jesus' Return?

Supposedly, the next pope who comes to power is the last pope before the end of the age. The story goes that in 1139 A.D. or so, a guy named Malachy visited Rome and had a vision. He was shown how many popes there would be before the end time. With Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation announcement today, it seems like we’re on the cusp of big things about to happen.
So, is it true? Did a Roman Catholic bishop have a vision in 1139 that really showed him how many popes there would be before the end of the age? It’s not impossible. God has given prophecies to those who are obedient followers of His as well as those who are very decidedly not (Balaam comes to mind, Numbers 22:35).
But it could also be bunk. The Wikipedia article about the “Prophecy of the Popes” explains difficulties with the accuracy of the prediction. Namely, the way Malachy wrote down what he saw was in the form of 112 very cryptic phrases. The phrases supposedly describe something about each pope. But they’re so vague, figuring out what they mean relies heavily on interpretation. And while some have been accurate, some have also been way off-base.
It’s so interesting, mysterious, intriguing to think about. If the next pope is the last pope, does that mean the end of the age is coming in the next 30 years or so (or sooner)?
Let’s get back to basics, here. We know and believe the Bible is the inspired word of God. We don’t know that about Malachy’s prophecy. And frankly, the biblical prophecies about the end time are clearer and less obscure than what Malachy wrote anyway.
A key prophecy we should look for to determine when the end will come is the “man of sin.” Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians about him, and the vision John recorded in Revelation 13 corroborates it. Here’s Paul: “Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day [the day of the Lord, which culminates in Jesus’ return] will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction. He will exalt himself and defy every god there is and tear down every object of adoration and worship. He will position himself in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, New Living Translation).
The guy claims to be God Himself.
So before Jesus returns, this man has to come on the scene. John seemed to have a vision of the same guy, which he described as a beast: “Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth. […] He did astounding miracles, such as making fire flash down to earth from heaven while everyone was watching. And with all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world. He ordered the people of the world to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life. He was permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die” (Revelation 13:11-18, NLT)
By the way, it’s this same guy who institutes the “mark of the beast,” which is calculated to 666.
What is the conclusion of the matter? If the next pope is the last one, it’s either coincidence or it really was an inspired prophecy. But instead of trying to figure out if some cryptic and mysterious prophecy from the 12th century is true, I think it’s more worth our time to read the plain language of the Bible.
The point of prophecy is to get us to take God seriously and make changes in our life today . Hold fast to the teachings of Christ. Be a good Christian. In fact, Paul said exactly that right after he wrote about the man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2:15).
Or to quote Jesus Himself: live a life showing fruits of repentance (Matthew 3:8).

Take-Away

St. Malachy’s prophecy of how many popes there would be before the end time probably isn’t true. But the Bible definitely is true, and it clearly says that a “man of sin” who claims to be God and does amazing miracles will come to power before the end time. The point of prophecy is to make us focus today on being a good Christian. So live a life worthy of repentance.

Update: March 13, 2013 - First Pope from Latin America. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina is chosen as the new Pope. He will take the name Pope Francis the First.

prophecy of the popes pope malachy End Times benedict xvi benedict Fulfilled Prophecy End Times News and Prophecy

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Friday, May 29, 2015

Beware of Prophecies!

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Beware of Prophecies!

by Cecil Maranville Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

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Interest in prophecy has skyrocketed since September 11. Religious authors aggressively market their prophetic books, and preachers push the theme on their television programs. Even secular publications feature articles on the subject. With the Internet now a part of everyday life, e-mail circulates ancient prophecies with a speed that would mystify their long-dead authors.
One of the most popular “prophecies” being circulated by e-mail is a message said to have been written by the 16th-century doctor cum prophet, Nostradamus. You may have read it: “'In the City of God there will be a great thunder, two brothers torn apart by chaos, while the fortress and doers, the great leader will succumb, the third big war will begin in the big city is burning' (Nostradamus, 1654).”
A different version of this message is also being circulated in which “the City of York” replaces “the City of God.” Still another adds the following: “On the 11th day of the 9th month, two metal birds will crash into two tall statues in the new city, and the world will end soon after.” There are other versions, but you get the idea. The messages are obviously intended to demonstrate that Nostradamus foretold the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
Glaring problems challenge this assertion. The first is, Nostradamus died in 1566! Obviously, he didn't write anything in 1654! But, beyond that, he didn't write anything like the above messages or the several variations of them that are making the rounds of private e-mail lists.
A similar message to the first one noted above actually was written-not by Nostradamus-but by Neil Marshall, a Canadian university student. Mr. Marshall wrote it in an essay about Nostradamus in 1997 to demonstrate how easily his “prophecies” could be manipulated to say virtually anything (Urban Legends Reference Page, © 1995-2001 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson). Probably, someone carelessly did a word search for “Nostradamus” and pulled up this essay without bothering to read it in context. It was cut and pasted into an e-mail-and off it went around the cyber world, repeatedly!
Even if Nostradamus was a true prophet (and he wasn't), and even if his predictions came true (and they haven't), these factors would still not qualify him as someone whose writings you should read and heed. Why not? We'll explain the answer later in this article.
Malachy's “prophecies”
Another man whom some think of as a prophet is having his prophecies circulated widely. An Irishman named Malachy O'Morgair was a Catholic archbishop in the 12th century. He had a series of visions in 1140, which he wrote down and presented to the pope. For whatever reason, his 111 prophecies were placed in the Vatican's archives, where they were forgotten for the next four and a half centuries.
When they were “discovered,” people with creative imaginations claimed that they prophesied the names of every pope from Innocent II through to the present. No pope was actually named, of course, because Malachy's “prophecies” were written in the same type of non-specific language as those of Nostradamus. It's therefore easy to read meanings into them.
You may have heard about a “prophecy” that claims the present pope is the next-to-the-last one, without realizing that it comes from Malachy's “prophecies.” Again, failing to look at the man and his messages in the broader context has caused many people to stumble into giving this single “prophecy” unjustified credibility.
The non-specific language of his messages is only one of the discrediting features. His list also includes so-called anti-popes-men who were not recognized as popes by the Catholic Church! As for those who are inclined to say that his list proves the next pope will be the last one, not even the Catholic Encyclopedia makes that claim. “It has been noticed concerning Petrus Romanus , who according to St. Malachy's list is to be the last pope, but the prophecy does not say that no popes will intervene between him and his predecessor…. It merely says that he is to be the last, so that we may suppose as many popes as we please before 'Peter the Roman'” (“Prophecy”).
(Lest we leave you curious about what Malachy foretold about the last pope, he only pulled together a few words from prophecies you can read in the book of Revelation. The Bible, by the way, is much more specific than Malachy was.)
In spite of the facts, you will likely hear a great deal more about Malachy's prophecies. A major movie on Malachy is currently in the planning stages and is scheduled to be released in 2002. End of Time features a renegade monk (to be played by Martin Sheen) who tries to block the election of the final pope. The plot centers on this monk's belief in Malachy's prophecies, which, of course, the moviemakers portray as 100 percent valid. The lowly monk must convince the great political leaders of the world of the disaster they will invite if they fail to block the appointment of “the last pope.”
Sometimes fiction imitates truth. Students of Bible prophecy know that the Bible actually does predict that a religious leader will play a prominent part in the crescendo of human history at the end of the age. It's a shame that the Bible's message is potentially overshadowed or denigrated by a fraud and a movie about him. (See our booklet You Can Understand Bible Prophecy for a presentation of the truth of the subject.)
That's why we need to beware of (some) prophecies!
Purpose of prophecy
What good is prophecy? What purpose does it serve? If a genuine prophet with bona fide “credentials” walked into your life today and could tell you what was going to happen tomorrow, what difference would it make to you? Why do people want to know the future?
Clearly, after September 11, many people want to know what disasters are impending, so they can save themselves and their families. Where will the next bomb be detonated? Where will the next anthrax-tainted letter be delivered? These are reasonable concerns, but the purpose of biblical prophecy does not speak to them. In one congregation I pastored, two brothers would occasionally invite me to their home to answer their questions about the Bible.
Their questions always centered on the same theme: What's going to happen next in Bible prophecy?
Their lives were not in imminent danger; nothing like September 11 had occurred. Their motivation to learn about prophecy was different. Their interest was similar to that of the millions who will line up to see End of Time —it holds entertainment value. People want to be intrigued by the mysterious aspects and frightened by the terrifying portions of the Bible that encompass prophecy. Those young men learned the basic framework of what the Bible predicts. But, like so many people today, they didn't grasp the reason for Bible prophecy .
Do you know what it is?
In the simplest of terms, its purpose is to motivate people who hear it to change the way they live. It's not intended that they should merely change their investments or their physical location for their own safety and well-being. Neither is it intended to be “a last warning” so people can “get right with God” before they die. It's intended to motivate them to change the way they live in normal times.
In broader terms, biblical prophecy is targeted to the principal descendants of the ancient tribes of Israel. It forecasts their future and, by extension, the future of all nations. It's framed in terms of the unique, personal relationship that Israel of old had with the Creator. As the people of Israel abandoned the covenant relationship into which God had invited them, they began to incur the consequences of going it alone.
Far from being merely an anecdote of ancient history, the messages to Old Testament Israel extend through the present and into the future. Superficial readers of the Bible do not realize that the prophet Jesus Christ spoke the same language that the Old Testament prophets spoke. That is, He preached a message of a personal relationship with God within the same framework-that of a covenant.
The Old Testament, including its prophetic messages, should help us understand how to be a Christian. Sadly, most religious teachers possess and convey only a shallow understanding of its profound truths.
When a man or woman actually can predict the future
In this article, we have exposed two frauds. Can anyone predict the future? What should we do if we encounter a man or a woman who actually can tell us what is going to happen tomorrow? Wouldn't that mean that this person is someone to whom we should pay attention?
Surprisingly, no, it wouldn't.
Read what God counseled His people on this matter: “If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place , and he says, 'Let us follow other gods' (gods you have not known) 'and let us worship them,' you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him” (Deuteronomy 13:1-4, NIV).
Do you perceive the heart of the matter? We must discern prophecy from the point of view of where it takes us-specifically, if it helps us to fulfill our covenant obligations to God. It is a tragic mistake to view prophecy from the singular perspective of “will it come true?”
The apostle John repeats the message with the admonition: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).
Please read beyond verse 4 of Deuteronomy 13 to find the shocking instruction on how Old Testament Israel was to deal with these prophets. They were frauds, not because they could not predict the future, but because their predictions led people into spiritual traps. Rather than have their prophecies published and widely circulated, those false prophets faced the death penalty-literally.
While we understand that this penalty phase of God's law isn't administered today, shouldn't we take direction from the principle that is so clearly expressed? Beware of prophecies. WNP

Friday, February 15, 2013

Papal Speculation and More on North Korea

From http://el-paso.ucg.org/ or call 1-888-886-8632.

Papal Speculation and More on North Korea

by Darris McNeely

The last African pope was Gelasius I, who was pope until he died in 496. A couple of gleanings from today's Financial Times merit BT Media's attention.

Amid speculation of who the next Pope will be, early bets are being made an African may get the nod–the first African in more than 1500 years, is mention of how vigorous is religion in sub Saharan Africa. A Pew Forum on Religion In Public Life 2010 survey showed that more than 75% of Africans felt religion was "very important" in their lives. Of Christians in Africa, 80% attend church once a week. Having just visited Kenya in East Africa I was struck at the number of churches and religious schools. The influence of many religions, including Islam, was evident. Our hotel in Ogembo was next to a mosque and we had a 4:00 a.m. wake up call each day when the faithful were called to prayer.

The strong African belief in the Bible as the literal word of God provides a fertile soil for the true gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. We always see strong interest in our message from this region. Religion may not be doing well in Europe but in Africa you find believers and seekers looking for a message of hope and meaning. Life in those regions is very hard. The truth of the gospel gives meaning and dignity for a people looking to make sense of a complicated world.

The other comment in today's paper sheds more light on North Korea's latest nuclear test, which we mentioned yesterday . David Pilling references an article in the Jerusalem Post suggesting "Pyongyang may have tested this week's device on behalf of Tehran in the presence of Iranian scientists." The nuclear connection of North Korea and Iran, two of the world's most dangerous states, should frighten leaders into action. If this and other reports are true we may be seeing Iran closer than anyones suspects to having nuclear capability and the means of delivering a weapon upon any foe they choose. When this happens it will be a major foreign policy fiasco for the United States, which has sought to contain the problem by economic sanctions.

Iran has ignored all threats and efforts to stop its nuclear goals and appears very close to having what it wants. Iran's religious and political leaders do not take President Obama seriously and they continue to march forward. The linkage of Iran and North Korea is a dangerous step against the stability of Middle East and Asia.

Bible prophecy shows armies coming from the region east of the Euphrates River in the events preceding the second coming of Jesus Christ (Revelation 16:12-16 [12] And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

[13] And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

[14] For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

[15] Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

[16] And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

See All...). Understanding events in this region is a key to this passage of prophecy.

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United Church of God El Paso

Wednesday, January 20, 2016