"The Prophets and Our Times" by Fr. Culleton

[Elizabeth]

Come, Thou Holy Ghost, come,

And from Thy celestial home

Shed a ray of light divine.

Come, Thou Father of the poor,

Come, Thou Source of all our store,

Come, within our bosoms shine.

Comforter art Thou the best,

Thou the sour's most welcome guest,

Sweet refreshment here below.

In our labor rest most sweet,

Grateful coolness in the heat,

Solace in the midst of woe.

CHAPTER 1

EVILS OF THE LATTER DAYS

     An important sign of the latter days is the prevalence of false teachings with the natural consequences: defections from religion. lack of faith even among Catholics and great moral degeneration.

      Several prophecies written long before the time of Christ speak of an age when many Gentile nations would deny the existence of God. and their oppressive and unjust fillers unite against Christianity, while much of the populace, would devise vain things instead of the truth,
     Since it was the Gentiles who accepted Christ when the Jews rejected Him, any reference to the Gentiles as nations united against Christ would apply rather to the 12tter times than to any previous period in the history of the Christian world. It would seem that when the Jews begin to return to Palestine. which is the start of their. return to God, that the time would have arrived when God begins to reject the Gentiles before accepting the returning Jews.
     That the Gentiles have already begun to reject Christ is certainly evidenced in the recent events in Russia, Mexico, Germany, and for that matter in nearly every nation. Christ is rejected when ignored or spurned as well as when He is proscribed by law. In some countries God has been rejected entirely while in others Christ has been made subservient to one or other form of nationalism Of internationalism, which is merely another way of speaking. Both systems substitute the created for the Creator. Despite these modern evil symptoms, it would not be necessary to presume that the Church would not in the ordinary course of events, be quite able, without miracles, to overcome them.
     Some such rebellion against God and His Christ is to extend itself throughout the world shortly before the reign of Anti-Christ, with even Catholics in great numbers abandoning the true faith. Coincidental with this general indifference toward religion. in fact even actual hatred of it. there is to be the complete degeneration of the morals of the people. a degeneration similar to that which existed among the pagans before the dawn of Christianity and civilization as we have known it.

[size=medium]     These signs of the approaching end have. of course. been true in varying degrees in earlier ages. The essential difference. however. between former defections and those which pressage the end. is to be found in the universality and sinister character of the latter apostasy. Men of the latter days are to set out. either to banish Christ from the memory of man. or in other instances to turn Christianity into a form of materialism and one to be used to gain unworthy objectives.

     Several years before this general apostasy there were to be false teachers who would cause great confusion and darkness in the minds of the people. resulting in the loss of entire nations to the true faith. This would very effectually prepare the way for Anti-Christ. Some say that this has already been fairly well accomplished by the so-called Reformation with its consequent evils. Much more and far worse evils were to befall the world immediately before the reign of Anti-Christ.

     We have also been warned against various prophets and those who claim to have had visions that foretold a sign or a wonder. Although those signs or wonders may actually occur as foretold. we will know the prophets are false because their doctrines are false. They will seem to make the people forget the True God even while claiming to be sent by Him. thus profaning His Holy Name. They will rob the poor. give and take bribes. and though preaching peace. will. if their greedy demands are not complied with. wage war. Thus they say: "Peace. Peace"; yet there is no peace. However, their time will come to an end because God merely permits this to happen to try our faith and increase our love for and dependence on Him.

     There will also be those who will indulge in fruitless discussions of so-called learned things. and by so doing will miss the real truth and the real faith because the things which engage their attention are based on false knowledge instead of the truth. The reason for this, primarily, is the education without religion which will exist in those days. for this education will not really educate but will have as its basis vain works and false ideals. This so-called education will be one of the most effective means used by Satan to prepare the world for Anti-Christ.

     After the birth of Anti-Christ and shortly before the rise of the Great Monarch. the false doctrines were to multiply and spread to such an extent that even Catholics would doubt many of the articles of faith. resulting in their perversion. this to apply not only to the laity but even to many priests and some of the hierarchy. The zeal of these latter will be greatly affected by this lack of faith. There will be dissentions among the clergy. Many will be proud. selfish, unjust, covetous, and even forgetful of vows made at ordination regarding chastity. Many will even offer Mass and confer the Sacraments sacrilegiously.
     When the zeal of the clergy fails they will see the faithful leaving the churches and turning to the world. The House of God will be deserted. singing of hymns will cease. and the observance of festivals abandoned. The relics of saints will be considered powerless and any contributions the laity will make to the church will be made grudgingly.

     In many religious houses humility and poverty will be forgotten. pride and desire for worldly luxuries will characterize the inmates instead of the spirit of simplicity which is the mark of a true religious.

     Because of these defections Catholics will be severely punished, for only by chastisements can God bring back to the minds of His people, a realization of their dependence upon  Him. As a consequence. widespread persecution of priests and people will come upon the Church in order that faith and love of God may be revived, for as surely as night follows day, so will civilization crumble and the world become steeped in the darkness of ignorance, hatred, misery and vice when God, Who is the Light of the World, will no longer rule in the hearts of His people.

     It is true that many people will seem to honor God but this will be chiefly lip service and not based on real faith and love. They will be unwilling to recognize evil because they will prefer to follow the easy path of pleasure. Truth will be deserted and in its stead false doctrines eagerly embraced, because it will seem the people even wish to be deluded. As the prophets; say: "It will be a lying generation, given to covetousness, deceit and even blasphemy."

     The wickedness of the people during these days will be multiplied. Iniquity will be so general throughout the world that scandalizers and betrayers will abound and hatred for one another will replace charity in the hearts of men. Every man will oppose his neighbor, the base man against the honorable, the few really good people will be opposed en all sides by the unrighteous, while the wicked alone will prosper. Laws will be ignored and personal possessions will become the property of the strong, since force alone will rule. If the one who sows has not the strength to defend his possessions, he will see another reap the fruit of his toil.

     Even family life will be completely disrupted. There in the heart of the family group, where, above all, there should abound genuine love and loyalty, will be found only bitterness and betrayal. Children, lacking respect for their elders, will rise against their parents, and even the parents in turn, will be without a natural love for their offspring, resulting in mutual mistrust.

     The lowly among the people shall overtake those rightfully in power. Treaties will be broken with less compunction than if they were mere snaps of paper, the chief consideration being selfish advancement.

     Family unity and fidelity we find glaringly absent in Communistic Russia and by no means satisfactory in other lands,

our own being among the foremost offenders. Lack of respect for treaties we find almost daily exemplified, and when a true history of our times is written we will discover that many modern rulers have conveniently disregarded  solemn promises. The dreaded "Secret Police" of some nations operates everywhere and for all one may know, relatives of his may be members sworn to betray even their own flesh and blood. Despite this, however, the prophets seem to suppose times more universally evil than ours today.
     In the last days before Anti-Christ there are to appear many anti-christs. This is the sign by which we will know that the hour of the great evil is at hand. Of course at this time evil will abound more than at any other period in the history of the world. However, as mentioned above, we can expect a preview of this culmination of evil in the world. During the preview we will observe pride, greed, intemperance, immorality, hypocrisy, unjust laws, lack of natural affection and dissemination of false knowledge rampant in the world.
     Another peculiar thing about some of the false teachers is that they will teach doctrines more severe even than those laid down by God, such as commanding abstinence from certain foods and drinks, and certain innocent pleasures, which God intended for our proper use. In these days fiction will be preferred to truth because the people of the world will wish to be seduced.
     There will not be many who will be really wise, the intelligent will be very few in number and even these will be in great part silent, because they know that they would be either not listened to, or laughed at. The prophets say also that evil and falsehood will increase as the world grows weaker with age.
     We are told that in remote preparation for Anti-Christ there was to be the beginning of the loosing of devils upon the world, and that many more would be loosed shortly before his reign. During these days people were to become inhospitable toward each other, willing to betray either for honor or personal gain, the rich were to become poor and the poor rich, the land was to become less fruitful and the animals less prolific than of old. At this time there were to arise three oppressive rulers who would exceed in tyranny and injustice all who were before them. They would bring to a head, as it were, the wickedness of Satan. Secularization of church property was a sign to precede their reign, also the persecution of priests, especially on "trumped-up" charges. Many governments would strive to control the Church, however God will not abandon the Church entirely at this time, but will make use of the demons to whom these rulers have abandoned themselves.
     Towards the end of the world the Jews are to commit some atrocious crime for which they will be gravely persecuted. Could the crime be a veering away of many Jews from the belief in a personal God and personal Messiah and all that such belief implies?
     We have been warned in Holy Scripture against those who deceive with empty arguments. These are the platitudes so often heard in defense of evil and so willingly accepted everywhere today. They have for their premise presumption on God's mercy and an unwillingness to recognize the true nature of sin and its evil consequences. As a result, vice more often than not is made to appear as virtue.
     Among other things to happen during these evil days is the changing of God's laws by unscrupulous leaders to suit their own convenience. This shall lead to universal sin and a gradual lack of obedience to all of God's commandments. The prophets here could well refer to the sanction of divorce by the various Protestant churches and national legislatures, as well as the tacit or actual approval of the practice of artificial birth control. In this latter respect, even Catholics, as individuals, have become greatly contaminated in recent years. It is obvious that it is but one step from easy divorce and artificial birth control to widespread immorality.
     As a result of these evils, great social disturbances were to appear on every side. With the family, which is the basis of society, breaking up, the fate of society itself must hang perilously in the balance. Only God's hand can stay it. Throughout the history of the world, whenever these evils have infected any nation, they have eventually caused the destruction of that nation. That they will spread disastrously before the rule of Anti-Christ into every strata of society over the entire world, causing the malignant growth of complete moral degeneration, is a warning given us by many prophets. There will be no standard by which morals will be regulated. Marriages will be solemnized without witnesses, and many young women will cohabit with men without marriage and this unblushingly and without secrecy. The various forms of immortality will become so widespread and habitual that only some terrible punishment will be able to eradicate them, for in these times men will live according to their own lusts and desires and not according to God's will and commandments.
     Finally, it has been foretold that by the time Anti-Christ is twenty years old, most of the world will have become atheistic and be oppressed by its rulers.
     In concluding this chapter, I shall quote from a recent statement of the present Pope to the Lithuanian minister, in which he said that as Supreme Pastor he could not close his eyes "When precisely for the salvation of souls arise new incommensurable dangers - when on the face of Europe, (Christian in all its fundamental lineaments), the sinister shadow of thoughts and deeds of enemies of God casts itself closer and more threateningly every day. In such circumstances more than in any other period of its history, the preservation, care, and if necessary, the defense of the Christian patrimony acquires for the future destinies of Europe and the prosperity of its people, large or small, a decisive importance."