Awaken Bible Prophecy Update 8-23-23: Problematic Catholic Bookend Beliefs – Part 2

In this three-part series, we’re doing a brief dive into Catholic theology related to the first and last books in the Bible based on a couple of small works by a Catholic priest.  These books by Albert Joseph Mary Shannon are titled Genesis – The Book of Origins and Apocalypse – The Book for Our Times.

You’ll recall in Part 1 I expressed confusion as to how this priest could have ended up with Mary as one of his middle names.  One of my commenters from Belgium stated that in his country during baptism, there are often surrogate parents who become basically like godparents.  These may be actual grandparents who promise to raise the child if anything happens to the birth parents.  In this tradition, the name Mary might have been given from one of the grandmothers.

I found this interesting and wanted to pass it on, so Hat Tip to Jaap in Belgium!

As I noted previously, these books are given Catholic sanction for having no doctrinal errors through the awarding of what are called the Nihil obstat and the Imprimatur.  You’ll also note in passing that I refrain from referring to the author as “Father” Shannon.  Jesus did say, after all, in Matthew 23:9:

And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

The first book that we completely covered in the prior Prophecy Update provides a Catholic view of Genesis.  As I stated, I found that many things the author presented led me to conclude that indeed it’s certainly possible for some Catholics to have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.  I have many issues, however, with their understanding of Scripture and believe there is a point at which someone would believe enough incorrect doctrine as to separate himself from Christ and/or never to have been born-again in the first place.

Today in Part 2, we’ll look at how Vatican teaching as shown in this little tome – Apocalypse – The Book for Our Times – discussing Revelation, has serious problems that will lead ultimately to great dismay on the part of the Catholic laity.  Proper reading and interpretation of Scripture is vital for one’s spiritual health.  As has been said: Poor understanding of eschatology leads to poor understanding of theology.

Transcript:

In this three-part series, we’re doing a brief dive into Catholic theology related to the first and last books in the Bible based on a couple of small works by a Catholic priest.  These books by Albert Joseph Mary Shannon are titled Genesis – The Book of Origins and Apocalypse – The Book for Our Times.

You’ll recall in Part 1 I expressed confusion as to how this priest could have ended up with Mary as one of his middle names.  One of my commenters from Belgium stated that in his country during baptism, there are often surrogate parents who become basically like godparents.  These may be actual grandparents who promise to raise the child if anything happens to the birth parents.  In this tradition, the name Mary might have been given from one of the grandmothers.

I found this interesting and wanted to pass it on, so Hat Tip to Jaap in Belgium!

As I noted previously, these books are given Catholic sanction for having no doctrinal errors through the awarding of what are called the Nihil obstat and the Imprimatur.  You’ll also note in passing that I refrain from referring to the author as “Father” Shannon.  Jesus did say, after all, in Matthew 23:9:

And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

The first book that we completely covered in the prior Prophecy Update provides a Catholic view of Genesis.  As I stated, I found that many things the author presented led me to conclude that indeed it’s certainly possible for some Catholics to have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.  I have many issues, however, with their understanding of Scripture and believe there is a point at which someone would believe enough incorrect doctrine as to separate himself from Christ and/or never to have been born-again in the first place.

Today in Part 2, we’ll look at how Vatican teaching as shown in this little tome – Apocalypse – The Book for Our Times – discussing Revelation, has serious problems that will lead ultimately to great dismay on the part of the Catholic laity.  Proper reading and interpretation of Scripture is vital for one’s spiritual health.  As has been said: Poor understanding of eschatology leads to poor understanding of theology.

We’ll get right into this analysis as soon as we pray and read from God’s Word.

<PRAY>

Scripture

Matthew 12:38-41

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

Problematic Catholic Bookend Beliefs – Part 2

• You may wonder why I used these verses on Jesus and Jonah as the Scripture for today
• It goes to the belief that the author of the book we’re examining has concerning the literal truth of God’s Word
• Before we even get to page 1 of the book, we have a major issue
• On page ix (i.e. in the Background section on page 9), the author made me cringe
• He is speaking of various literary forms such as history, parables, apocalyptic literature, wisdom literature, etc.
• Acknowledging that the Bible is a collection of books inspired by God, he says that we have to interpret them correctly – very true
• The author then says:

“To treat the book of Jonah as history and not as parable would be disastrous.”

• What?
• Remember what Jesus stated:

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish

The men of Nineveh  . . . repented at the preaching of Jonah

• To my reading of these statements Jesus made to the Pharisees, it certainly appears that Jesus believed the account of Jonah to be factual and a clear warning to those who would deny His truth
• Frankly . . . how dare this author or Catholics in general try to make an allegory of a Biblical account that God is using for very specific purposes!
• Based on what’s written on this one page, you can see the author and I aren’t getting off together on the right foot

• Maybe this is just an aberration, and we can come to a meeting of the minds
• But, no . . .
• One page later – page x – remember we’re not even into the main body of the book yet . . .
• Continuing to speak about literal versus symbolic interpretation, the author tells us that we’d better see symbology in the Bible for what it is, otherwise we get “all kinds of bizarre interpretation”
• Such as – we might ask?
• Speaking of Hal Lindsay’s books on “Apocalypse”, i.e. The Late Great Planet Earth and others, he says they’re based on literalism rather than literary form
• The author refers to those who hold to the same basic doctrinal position as Lindsay as Chiliasts – which in this context seems to be used in a somewhat derogatory manner
• What are Chiliasts, you ask?
• Since we tend not to use that description for ourselves, you and I can be forgiven for not having a clear definition of the term
• A Chiliast is essentially a premillennial believer, i.e. one who believes that Christ will reign literally for one thousand years on the earth before the final judgment
• You might then ask: What’s the problem? Isn’t that what the Bible says?
• Oh, you foolish Bible-reading and -believing Christian
• According to the author, Chiliasts “arrived at this error by taking a text literally”
• He then says: “The Church condemned this teaching July 21, 1944”
• How are we doing?
• Are you beginning to doubt how trustworthy Catholic teaching is yet?
• Carrying on to page xii in speaking of the book of Revelation and its prophecies, our author apparently doesn’t believe much in a literal way about God’s Word
• He mentions the two beasts from Revelation 13 as being godless governments and false religions
• Now we surely have those in spades today, just as they’ve been around for millennia
• But to credit the Biblical account as only symbolism is highly problematic
• Since we can see the red sky at morning and night, we can tell what the weather is going to be
• In the same way, as we see the signs of the times, we know the final days in which we’re living
• As such, we can look at the world through a Biblical and prophetic lens and see that godless governments and false religions are indeed with us
• But more than that, we can see that based on how the world is careening downhill, it will take a forceful, authoritarian leader to make people think everything can be normal again
• It will take a man of spiritual intensity to convince people that we should all come together as one in a single religious expression if we want to live in harmony with the earth
• The two Beasts will be actual individuals who will accomplish these herculean tasks
• Here on this page, the author makes a very positive statement that I don’t want to be remiss in quoting
• He says:

“It [the book of Revelation] is a book of revelation, as well as prophecy.  And what is the revelation?  It is despite the efforts of the dragon and his cohorts, the Lamb and His followers will always triumph.  Good will conquer evil.  Christ is the One Who was, Who is, and Who is to come.  In other words, Christ is the One Who is triumphant on every level in the past; on Calvary; in the present, in the martyrs, in the future, in the last judgment.”

• To that I say, Amen
• However, as we’ll see shortly in this book, this victory in Christ is only attainable through the Catholic church
• One final point in the Background section on pages xiii-xiv . . .
• The author quotes extensively from various so-called revelations that a Catholic priest began receiving in 1972 from a Marian apparition, of course spoken of as “Our Lady”
• He does caveat that because these were private “revelations” to this priest, they are not official teachings from the Catholic church
• However, he points out that since this book has the official Imprimatur of the church, what is conveyed is therefore doctrinally sanctioned since it is free of anything contrary to their morals or faith
• As such, in the Mary quote on this page, she (it?) makes the statement that her task is to open up the book of Revelation for understanding

• All this that I’ve covered comes only from my first page of notes that I took in reading the book, i.e. dealing only with Background
• Now we’ll see what we learn in the meat of the book
• As I stated earlier, Catholicism certainly understands the nature of Jesus
• The author with his books we’re discussing stated this:

Jesus “who is both God and man, the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Lord of history and of the church”

• That’s good – right?
• Then why would they elevate Mary to such a high and lofty place?
• The answer can only be: deception
• Because we’ll see that she is given such high regard that what is conveyed in her Marian apparitions seems to almost be on the same level of reverence as the Gospel
• In discussing the letters to the Seven churches in Revelation the issue of good fruit versus bad fruit arises with the injunction in Scripture to test for that condition
• This is a good practice to determine the trustworthiness of the spirits to which we’re exposed
• But in the manner of Catholicism, we’re then given this advice as a complementary rule
• We should also ask according to our author:

“Does what is being taught square with the authoritative teaching of the Catholic church on faith and morale?”

• What’s wrong with this picture?
• Shouldn’t the question instead be: Does this line up with Scripture?
• What gives the Catholic church the imprimatur – if you will – to be such an authority that apparently supersedes that of God’s Word?
• We’ll touch on a number of issues as the author brings them up in his book
• As a result, it may feel like we’re jumping from topic to topic which to some extent we are

• A connection is made concerning the church at Thyatira with the Freemasons and the business contacts one could glean from that organization
• The association dealt with the guilds present in that city that were important to the people hoping to profit in various ways
• The guilds often feted various gods, which were seen as benefactors to the professions
• Rightly, that should be denounced and a true Christian should avoid any connection that seeks to elevate a pagan god over Yahweh
• In this same manner, Masonry at its highest level is extremely pagan
• Thus, the author frowns upon the Masons – which is certainly admirable
• But he connects all this with Jezebel, which may or may not be a stretch
• One of the key points of Thyatira, however, for many Bible teachers, myself included, is Jezebel’s seeming connection to the Catholic church’s reverence for Mary
• Is our condemnation warranted of Jezebel in Thyatira’s letter pointing forward to Catholicism, and how the Vatican has made Mary such a revered figure – in many instances apparently replacing Jesus?
• If so, then we come upon this as a huge blind spot – and frankly, obliviousness – in this religion
• Catholics cannot seem to see that by raising up Mary as they do, they effectively make her a god and directly disobey the 1^st of the Ten Commands to have no other god before Yahweh
• They’ll deny this until the sun rises in the west, but if they were truly honest about this, they’d admit it

• A so-called word from Jesus Himself was given to a nun in 1937 regarding a prayer that he wanted brought forth about lukewarmness in the church in relation to the Laodicean problem
• Supposedly the suffering that Jesus experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane dealt principally with lukewarm souls
• I’ll bet you didn’t know that
• It was because of these souls who weren’t on fire for God that Jesus cried out for His Father to take away His cup of suffering
• If you’re following along in your Bible, you may have the sneaking suspicion that this wasn’t exactly the reason that Jesus sweated blood in His suffering prayers
• No, it’s because He knew what was coming
• He would take upon Himself the sins of all the world – past, present, and future – as atonement for us
• He would become our sin – taking the punishment for it that each one of us richly deserves
• Thus, he became the propitiation for our sins
• For that, He would suffer immense physical torture as a prelude to the spiritual agony
• There was a lot more going on here than Jesus being sad that some people were lukewarm in their faith

• The way that the book presents its discussion about the Seven churches of Revelation is by equating various things said to seven prophecies
• Besides lukewarmness being one these prophecies, there is also a discussion of false prophets as a threat to the church
• And what do these false prophets do?
• They publicly dissent with the Magisterium of the Catholic church
• Say what?
• Here is a concise definition of this Vatican-defined heresy:

The magisterium is the official teaching office of the Church, including the pope and the bishops in union with him.

• Thus, the philosophy of the false prophets is anti-papal, anti-hierarchy, anti-dogma, and pro wishy-washy moral code
• As Mary, a.k.a. “Our Lady” conveyed in one of her messages:

“ . . . how deeply the scandal, even of bishops who do not obey the Vicar of my Son and who sweep a great number of my poor children along the path of error, wounds and pains my heart.”

• That, of course, would be her immaculate heart
• But just think: if she condemns Catholic bishops who don’t stick to the straight and narrow of the Vatican’s teaching, what must she think of us who vehemently disagree with it?
• What do RCC-defined false prophets say?
• From the Council of Trent which defined anathemas, i.e. the means by which people would be excommunicated from the Catholic church and which have never been renounced, here are several:

CANON 9: “If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema.”

à In other words, putting this in plain English: if you believe that salvation comes solely by the grace of God alone and not by works you are cursed

Canon 14: “If anyone saith, that man is truly absolved from his sins and justified, because that he assuredly believed himself absolved and justified; or, that no one is truly justified but he who believes himself justified; and that, by this faith alone, absolution and justification are effected; let him be anathema.”

à English version: If you believe that God has absolved you of your sins by your faith and not by performing works, then you are cursed

Canon 24: “If anyone saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema.”

à English translation: If you believe that works are a result of saving faith and not the means by which you’re saved or that your salvation is enhanced by those works, you are cursed

Canon 30: “If any one saith, that, after the grace of Justification has been received, to every penitent sinner the guilt is remitted, and the debt of eternal punishment is blotted out in such wise, that there remains not any debt of temporal punishment to be discharged either in this world or in the next in Purgatory, before the entrance to the kingdom of heaven can be opened (to him); let him be anathema.”

à Finally, last English translation: If you believe that faith in Christ alone by His grace alone is enough to completely atone for your sins and you don’t require additional punishment in purgatory, you are anathema – cursed and thus must be excommunicated from the Catholic church

• I guess a whole lot of us are in denial about the truth of the Gospel according to the Vatican and are destined for hell
• After all, by believing in Biblical doctrines opposed to Catholic teaching, you – and I – are in open rebellion against the pope
• Now, I will say, that in this same section of discussion, the author makes some good points about lukewarmness, slander against the church, and secular Humanism
• Unfortunately, those positives are diminished as far as I’m concerned because of the anti-Biblical doctrines held and enforced by the Magisterium
• Just a bonus comment at this point: The author of our book that we’re discussing seems to speak of Our Lady and her prophecies very much in the same vein that NAR prophets and apostles consider as their authority, i.e. that God speaks to and through them (yet many of their foretellings never come to pass)
• Confirming this belief in the utterances of the Marian apparitions being wholly legitimate, the author practically equates the Apostle John’s visions at Patmos recorded in the book of Revelation as Holy Scripture with visions received from Mary to a nun and others
• In other words, the words from these Marian apparitions are given the same weight, authority, and significance as those given to John
• Apparently, Mary made a promise to King Louis XIV (14) of France that if he – among other things – consecrated his heart to her, then the king would have a life of grace and eternal glory
• Now, many of you know that I take the if-then statements of God very seriously because they result if either blessings or curses depending on obedience or disobedience
• However, this if-then promise made by Mary, is another thing altogether
• The author equates the French Revolution in the next century to the king’s disobedience to what Mary required
• The grandson of this first king became king himself as Louis XVI (16)
• According to this account, he remembered what his grandfather had failed to do, and attempted to do it himself
• Bad luck or bad timing, it didn’t work
• He went to the guillotine and his head was chopped off
• Oh, if only the people would listen to Mary and do what she commands!
• The author then paraphrases Revelation 1:3 as: blessed are they who listen to the prophetic message
• Maybe it depends on who is speaking the prophecy

• There is still more, and I think our exploration of Catholic thinking would be remiss if we didn’t check it out
• Next time we’ll continue on with Part 3 of this 3-part series looking at the various Judgments in Revelation as interpreted by our intrepid Catholic author representing the thinking of his church
• In the meantime, please read your Bible daily, meditate on the Words of God, and seek Him for greater understanding
• As we’re seeing in the course of this study, that understanding doesn’t come from the Catholic church or any religious structure that holds itself above the true Words of God