01-21-2021, 01:16 PM
You can download the book in multiple formats at this link: https://archive.org/details/TheProphetsA...s/mode/2up
A few words need to be said about reissuing Father Gerald Culleton's The Prophets and Our Times. First of all it is now thirty-three years since the book was first published, and Father Culleton had an idea the world was then witnessing the events foretold by the prophecies he had recorded, the colossal occurence of that time being of course, World War II, the greatest struggle the world has ever known. Yet, from our view we realize those prophecies he presented and interpreted have not been fulfilled. Then too, there appeared in 1970 Mr. Yves Dupont's Catholic Prophecy-The Coming Chastisement, which for its brevity and command of the significance of the prophecies' meaning, has no equal in any book that I am familiar with, and certainly the present volume will not replace his nor eliminate the need of students interested in this subject reading Catholic Prophecy as well. Father Culleton's work traces many of the same prophecies as Mr. Dupont's and in general restricts itself to the same era; however, Father's book is considerably larger and more comprehensive in its coverage, for which reason, mainly, we have thought to reprint it. Added to this, however, is the general accuracy of The Prophets and Our Times, despite Father's penchant for interpreting the prophecies as being fulfilled by the events of his day.
Probably the most provocative characteristic of this book, especially to readers who have had no introduction to the subject, is the cohesiveness of the various prophecies-how they coalesce, dovetail, agree, and complement one another-this despite the fact that they were made in different centuries, from the fourth down to our own, and at times generally when transportation and communication were very poor, a factor which would preclude collusion (this is virtually unthinkable, given the conditions). The question arises then, do these prophecies, taken together, form a body of knowledge, or even a quasi body of knowledge? The author certainly treats them as if they do. Still the contemporary reader will ask: "Well, do they?" This, I believe, each person will have to answer for himself, based largely upon the interior evidence of the prophecies themselves. For my own part, I think they do. This judgment, however, is more mature than perhaps most readers will be able to make and comes from having read in various books prophecies other than those appearing here or in any recent editions, all of which prophecies I feel fit the general pattern laid down by Father Culleton in The Prophets and Our Times. Moreover, it has been my good fortune to come across a number of books from which he draws his material, some of these over a hundred years old. The impression which a reading of these older books gives, most decidedly, is that people in those days were just as interested in the prophecies as we are today, and the writers of those books were extremely careful to cite their sources and would be judged by their work as sane, sensible and careful academicians, giving most scrupulously their own sources and filling in many details about the lives of the various saintly prophets. In this regard I am thinking especially of The Christian Trumpet. The present author, moreover, has not exerpted all that he could from these books, but rather has selected only the most apropos material.
If we are to grant that this group of prophecies forms a sort of corpus of knowledge, what are the general outlines of this information? Here, I believe, we all owe a great debt to Father Culleton for his grouping of this information into two general categories, the first of which he covers in the present book and the second of which he treats in his Reign of Antichrist (1951), also being reissued concomitantly with the present book, and one which the reader, if he is interested in this subject at all will surely want to peruse, in order to flesh out his view or perspective of events. In general, the information covered by his two books concerns the time of Antichrist, on the one hand, and the time generally which precedes it, on the other. The time preceding Antichrist we might well refer to as the "dress rehearsal" period. Now the time of the Antichrist will be the most distressing the world has ever known, and the Bible is very explicit in specifying that his reign will last three and one-half years or forty-two months or 1,290 days. These figures are given in several different places in the Bible (Daniel 12:7; 12:11; Apoc. 11:2-3; 13:14), in order that, it would seem, we do not in any way understand them symbolically; the reason for this is obvious: God wishes to console the good people of that time with the knowledge of precisely when their great tribulation will end-in truly :t touching measure of His mercy toward frail humanity. Shortly after the end of Antichrist comes the End of Time, the most prophesied event in the Bible, otherwise referred to as "the Day of the Lord," which is a time not to be longed for: "Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord" says the prophet Amos (5: 18). In the view of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Day of the Lord immediately precedes the General Judgment. At that time Our Lord returns in triumph and in judgment as the Lord of lords and King of kings. Now, the whole affair is so jmportant, it would seem, considering both the Biblical prophecies and the saintly prophecies (which Father: Culleton concerns himself with here), that it is not sufficient for it simply to happen once. Rather it seems we are to have a foretaste of both the agony and the joys at that later set of events, during a time which serves very much as a warning to the world. This period is dominated by the personage of the Great Monarch: the world in his time enters a severe period of tension (social, political, and religious), which eventuates in terrific military struggles (none of which appear to be Armageddon, it might be added), the final result being the world-wide triumph of this Catholic prince, under whom and through whose influence virtually the entire world becomes Catholic. During his reign there is unprecedented peace, prosperity, and progress. But toward the end of his time, the stiffnecked, hard-hearted men of that day descend once more into widespread sin, and shortly after the Great Monarch, Antichrist makes his appearance. Just as Our Lord at His second coming, the Great Monarch is a king of kings and lord of lords, who rules in justice and who brings an unheralded Pax Christiana, thus it would seem, forming a "type of Christ" in His second coming. Such, then, is a rough delineation of the events recorded in Father Culleton's two books. whether or not it is valid the reader can judge for himself.
A number of other questions arises in this regard which might be considered briefly. "Are we in the Great Apostasy)" mentioned by St. Paul in 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2? One encounters among troubled Catholics today a good deal of mention about this. The answer is that it would seem we are not, but in view of the "dress rehearsal" concept elucidated above, we are most certainly experiencing a serious loss of faith on the part of a large portion of the Catholic population; yet many are still holding fast, despite the confusion rampant in the Church. When the reader has read the prophecies contained here, he will begin to see that most likely "the eat Apostasy" will come after the reign of the Great Monarch and refers to the general falling away after his time.
With these thoughts in mind we are pleased to reissue The Prophets and Our Times and hope that it will bring enlightenment and consolation to those who read it.
THE PROPHETS
AND
OUR TIMES
By
R. GERALD CULLETON
"It shall come to pall in the last days. says the Lord, that I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughtera shall prophesy. and your young men shall see visions. and your old men shall dream dreams. And moreover upon my servants and upon my handmaids in those days will I pour forth of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy."
( Acts 2: 17-1 8)
"In all ages men have been divinely instructed in mallers expediem for the salvation of the elect ... and in all ages there have been persona possessed of the spirit of prophesy. not for the purpose of announcing neW doctrines, but to direct human actions."
(St. Thomas: Summa: 2: 2 :174 :Res. et ad 3)
TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC.
Rockford, Illinois 61105
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE
A few words need to be said about reissuing Father Gerald Culleton's The Prophets and Our Times. First of all it is now thirty-three years since the book was first published, and Father Culleton had an idea the world was then witnessing the events foretold by the prophecies he had recorded, the colossal occurence of that time being of course, World War II, the greatest struggle the world has ever known. Yet, from our view we realize those prophecies he presented and interpreted have not been fulfilled. Then too, there appeared in 1970 Mr. Yves Dupont's Catholic Prophecy-The Coming Chastisement, which for its brevity and command of the significance of the prophecies' meaning, has no equal in any book that I am familiar with, and certainly the present volume will not replace his nor eliminate the need of students interested in this subject reading Catholic Prophecy as well. Father Culleton's work traces many of the same prophecies as Mr. Dupont's and in general restricts itself to the same era; however, Father's book is considerably larger and more comprehensive in its coverage, for which reason, mainly, we have thought to reprint it. Added to this, however, is the general accuracy of The Prophets and Our Times, despite Father's penchant for interpreting the prophecies as being fulfilled by the events of his day.
Probably the most provocative characteristic of this book, especially to readers who have had no introduction to the subject, is the cohesiveness of the various prophecies-how they coalesce, dovetail, agree, and complement one another-this despite the fact that they were made in different centuries, from the fourth down to our own, and at times generally when transportation and communication were very poor, a factor which would preclude collusion (this is virtually unthinkable, given the conditions). The question arises then, do these prophecies, taken together, form a body of knowledge, or even a quasi body of knowledge? The author certainly treats them as if they do. Still the contemporary reader will ask: "Well, do they?" This, I believe, each person will have to answer for himself, based largely upon the interior evidence of the prophecies themselves. For my own part, I think they do. This judgment, however, is more mature than perhaps most readers will be able to make and comes from having read in various books prophecies other than those appearing here or in any recent editions, all of which prophecies I feel fit the general pattern laid down by Father Culleton in The Prophets and Our Times. Moreover, it has been my good fortune to come across a number of books from which he draws his material, some of these over a hundred years old. The impression which a reading of these older books gives, most decidedly, is that people in those days were just as interested in the prophecies as we are today, and the writers of those books were extremely careful to cite their sources and would be judged by their work as sane, sensible and careful academicians, giving most scrupulously their own sources and filling in many details about the lives of the various saintly prophets. In this regard I am thinking especially of The Christian Trumpet. The present author, moreover, has not exerpted all that he could from these books, but rather has selected only the most apropos material.
If we are to grant that this group of prophecies forms a sort of corpus of knowledge, what are the general outlines of this information? Here, I believe, we all owe a great debt to Father Culleton for his grouping of this information into two general categories, the first of which he covers in the present book and the second of which he treats in his Reign of Antichrist (1951), also being reissued concomitantly with the present book, and one which the reader, if he is interested in this subject at all will surely want to peruse, in order to flesh out his view or perspective of events. In general, the information covered by his two books concerns the time of Antichrist, on the one hand, and the time generally which precedes it, on the other. The time preceding Antichrist we might well refer to as the "dress rehearsal" period. Now the time of the Antichrist will be the most distressing the world has ever known, and the Bible is very explicit in specifying that his reign will last three and one-half years or forty-two months or 1,290 days. These figures are given in several different places in the Bible (Daniel 12:7; 12:11; Apoc. 11:2-3; 13:14), in order that, it would seem, we do not in any way understand them symbolically; the reason for this is obvious: God wishes to console the good people of that time with the knowledge of precisely when their great tribulation will end-in truly :t touching measure of His mercy toward frail humanity. Shortly after the end of Antichrist comes the End of Time, the most prophesied event in the Bible, otherwise referred to as "the Day of the Lord," which is a time not to be longed for: "Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord" says the prophet Amos (5: 18). In the view of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Day of the Lord immediately precedes the General Judgment. At that time Our Lord returns in triumph and in judgment as the Lord of lords and King of kings. Now, the whole affair is so jmportant, it would seem, considering both the Biblical prophecies and the saintly prophecies (which Father: Culleton concerns himself with here), that it is not sufficient for it simply to happen once. Rather it seems we are to have a foretaste of both the agony and the joys at that later set of events, during a time which serves very much as a warning to the world. This period is dominated by the personage of the Great Monarch: the world in his time enters a severe period of tension (social, political, and religious), which eventuates in terrific military struggles (none of which appear to be Armageddon, it might be added), the final result being the world-wide triumph of this Catholic prince, under whom and through whose influence virtually the entire world becomes Catholic. During his reign there is unprecedented peace, prosperity, and progress. But toward the end of his time, the stiffnecked, hard-hearted men of that day descend once more into widespread sin, and shortly after the Great Monarch, Antichrist makes his appearance. Just as Our Lord at His second coming, the Great Monarch is a king of kings and lord of lords, who rules in justice and who brings an unheralded Pax Christiana, thus it would seem, forming a "type of Christ" in His second coming. Such, then, is a rough delineation of the events recorded in Father Culleton's two books. whether or not it is valid the reader can judge for himself.
A number of other questions arises in this regard which might be considered briefly. "Are we in the Great Apostasy)" mentioned by St. Paul in 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2? One encounters among troubled Catholics today a good deal of mention about this. The answer is that it would seem we are not, but in view of the "dress rehearsal" concept elucidated above, we are most certainly experiencing a serious loss of faith on the part of a large portion of the Catholic population; yet many are still holding fast, despite the confusion rampant in the Church. When the reader has read the prophecies contained here, he will begin to see that most likely "the eat Apostasy" will come after the reign of the Great Monarch and refers to the general falling away after his time.
It might well be asked, "Are we close to the End of Time, or to the time of Antichrist?" Many authoritative writers think that we are. Personally, I, would not discount the possibility, especially since some of the conditions are now fulfilled, and it takes little imagination to see how others could be. In this regard writers, and even saints, have been mistaken in the past, for which reason none of us should be too hasty to say yes to this question. Referring to the End of Time, Our Lord Himself told us, "But of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father." (Mk. 13: 32). Nonetheless, we are certain that it will come and come "as a thief in the night." (1Thess. 5:2). St. Paul tells us that Our Lord will return "in very little while" (Heb. 10:37), and St. Peter tells us that "one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Pet. 3:8), from which we can safely infer that the present Christian era is not going to be all that long. If indeed we are close to the End of Time, or at least close to or beginning the "dress rehearsal" period, it would seem providential chat these prophecies would be made known now on so widespread a basis, enabling those who thus desire to be advised on the matter.
"Have some of the prophecies about the first of these two periods ill fact been fulfilled?" The answer to this question is yes, some of these prophecies seem to be coming true, notably the widespread loss of faith, confusion in the Church (even in matters of Faith), bankruptcy of the democracies in Western Europe (that is to say their inability to cope with problems of labor, inflation, political unrest, social justice, international finance, and simple "planning for the future"). Already, we are hearing more and more about an imminent eruption in Italy, which will be one of the hallmarks of the period of the Great Monarch. Given the space to develop the notion in a substantive way, and citing additional prophecies to this effect, I believe I could quite easily support this answer.
Despite the fact that these prophecies, taken together, form a compelling tract, we must remember that they are not dogma, that is, do not concern de fide pronouncements of the Church. They are simply given for our instruction, to help us, it would seem, in a trying time. If some good Catholics choose not to accept them or choose to lay little stock in them, it is not the duty of any one of us to coerce his mind into assent (as if that were possible). These prophecies are not needed for salvation, but they may indeed be needed for sanity, and certainly for hope, by some or many of us. Indeed, there is a great deal of hope in the personages of the Great Monarch and the Angelic Pastor (a holy Pope) mentioned here. They are truly romantic figures, in the best sense of the word, and so much after the style of God, who in His action among men tends to be both simple and surprising, subtle and irresistible; in His own good time surely something like the events predicted in this book are bound to occur-they are, as it were almost wrapped up part and parcel in the confusion of the world's current life. With the development of that confusion, so trying on us all, is bound to emerge the solution from a most unpredictable quarter. Hence, the enemies of God and of His
Holy Church will not know where or how to prepare themselves to resist successfully the advent of the Great Monarch. God will nurture this man in His own manner, who the prophecies seem to indicate, will not even be known to himself until a late moment. When that man finally takes the field, it will be all over for the enemies of God, despite their numerical superiority and seeming greater power.With these thoughts in mind we are pleased to reissue The Prophets and Our Times and hope that it will bring enlightenment and consolation to those who read it.
Thomas A. Nelson
June 26, 1974
Feast of Sts. John and Paul
June 26, 1974
Feast of Sts. John and Paul