|
The Orthodox Pages
|
||||
Back
   |
|
|||
|
|
Hello pater One question: With all what's going on with all the floods fires ebolas are we coming to the end as it Nostradamus says? Your views please
Answer to Question 444 Who is Nostradamus? Why should we refer to him when Christ himself gives us so many signs to look out for so that we can recognize the end of time? Forget Nostradamus and read what Jesus has warned us of. The whole teaching about the Second Coming of Christ and the signs which will precede it is set forth in several places in the Gospels, but especially in the 24th chapter of St. Matthew and in the Book of Revelation.
The first thing we must have if we are going to have the true interpretation of the signs of the times is something we can call basic Orthodox knowledge or understanding. That is, knowledge of the Holy Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments (and not just according to the way it seems, but according to the way the Church has interpreted it); knowledge of the writings of Holy Fathers; knowledge of Church history; and awareness of the different kind of heresies and errors which have attacked the Church's true understanding of dogma and especially of the last times. If we do not have a grounding in sources such as these, we will find ourselves confused and unprepared. That is precisely what our Lord tells us: to be ready, to be prepared. Unless we have this basic knowledge, we will not be prepared and we will misinterpret the signs of the times.
The most important thing we need to gain knowledge is the virtue of spiritual discernment. The last times will be about discerning between things that seem identical or very similar to each other, but one is true and the other false, one has the spirit of Christ while the other the spirit of the Antichrist. Antichrist does not merely mean someone who is against Christ but also "in imitation of, or in place of Christ." The Antichrist, as all the Holy Fathers say in their writings about him, is to be someone who imitates Christ, that is, tries to fool people by looking as though he is Christ come back to earth. Seeing the figure of Antichrist, many people will be fooled into thinking that it is Christ.
Christ tells us that we will hear of many disasters and wars but to not be troubled by these things because all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. I would not worry about the end of the world until we see that the Temple of Jerusalem is being rebuilt, only then can we say the end is near. I will not say more because I have been asked to do a special post on this subject in the not too distance future. Then I will examine all the prophecies on this subject
|
|
||
