eschotological view?

[Douggg]

Briefly, what is this group's view of the end times? I am not intending to start a debate with the group (besides it being against the rules of this forum) - just want to know.

 

[Rhamiel]

I am a Roman Catholic, and I have had some interaction with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, but I am far from an expert on this movement

I can say that the Catholic Church is amillennial
we believe the 1,000 year reign of Jesus to be what we are in right now, with Jesus reigning through His Church
we believe that verses talking about people being called up into the sky, that this Rapture is the Final Judgment for all people, not some event that depopulates the earth of Christians before the Second Coming but is rather something that happens at the same time as the Second Coming

before Jesus returns, there will be a Great Apostasy, many people will leave Christianity and follow the final AntiChrist (also called the Beast or the Man of Lawlessness)
the antichrist is also described as a spirit and that all who deny that Christ came in the flesh are antichrists
we can take this to mean that every worldly system that seeks to reject God and replace God with man
so the secular humanism of the French Revolution and Soviet Russia were in the spirit of Anti-Christ and Robespierre and Lenin were antichrists in their own way
but near the end, a human being will come along who cooperates more fully with this demonic spirit then any 3rd world warlord or pagan Caesar ever has

many intelectuals in mainline Protestantism have rejected this teaching, so many American Catholics have chosen to ignore it
or they have been confused by Evangelicals and Baptists who say the Pope is the antichrist, so they just ignore the topic all together

but if you read books from 70 years ago or longer, you will see the belief that a single human individual will raise up as antichrist before the last days was very common within the Catholic Church

 

[Douggg]

I am a Roman Catholic, and I have had some interaction with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, but I am far from an expert on this movement

I can say that the Catholic Church is amillennial
we believe the 1,000 year reign of Jesus to be what we are in right now, with Jesus reigning through His Church
we believe that verses talking about people being called up into the sky, that this Rapture is the Final Judgment for all people, not some event that depopulates the earth of Christians before the Second Coming but is rather something that happens at the same time as the Second Coming

before Jesus returns, there will be a Great Apostasy, many people will leave Christianity and follow the final AntiChrist (also called the Beast or the Man of Lawlessness)
the antichrist is also described as a spirit and that all who deny that Christ came in the flesh are antichrists
we can take this to mean that every worldly system that seeks to reject God and replace God with man
so the secular humanism of the French Revolution and Soviet Russia were in the spirit of Anti-Christ and Robespierre and Lenin were antichrists in their own way
but near the end, a human being will come along who cooperates more fully with this demonic spirit then any 3rd world warlord or pagan Caesar ever has

many intelectuals in mainline Protestantism have rejected this teaching, so many American Catholics have chosen to ignore it
or they have been confused by Evangelicals and Baptists who say the Pope is the antichrist, so they just ignore the topic all together

but if you read books from 70 years ago or longer, you will see the belief that a single human individual will raise up as antichrist before the last days was very common within the Catholic Church

Many thanks for the information.

 

[Korah]

I am a Roman Catholic, and I have had some interaction with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, but I am far from an expert on this movement

I can say that the Catholic Church is amillennial
we believe the 1,000 year reign of Jesus to be what we are in right now, with Jesus reigning through His Church
we believe that verses talking about people being called up into the sky, that this Rapture is the Final Judgment for all people, not some event that depopulates the earth of Christians before the Second Coming but is rather something that happens at the same time as the Second Coming

before Jesus returns, there will be a Great Apostasy, many people will leave Christianity and follow the final AntiChrist (also called the Beast or the Man of Lawlessness)
the antichrist is also described as a spirit and that all who deny that Christ came in the flesh are antichrists
we can take this to mean that every worldly system that seeks to reject God and replace God with man
so the secular humanism of the French Revolution and Soviet Russia were in the spirit of Anti-Christ and Robespierre and Lenin were antichrists in their own way
but near the end, a human being will come along who cooperates more fully with this demonic spirit then any 3rd world warlord or pagan Caesar ever has

many intelectuals in mainline Protestantism have rejected this teaching, so many American Catholics have chosen to ignore it
or they have been confused by Evangelicals and Baptists who say the Pope is the antichrist, so they just ignore the topic all together

but if you read books from 70 years ago or longer, you will see the belief that a single human individual will raise up as antichrist before the last days was very common within the Catholic Church

You're describing St. Augustine's Post-Millenialism. Amillenialism is more associated with Calvinists, though the practical effect is similar, an indifference to eschatology.

nialism.

 

[Rhamiel]

hmmm, could you please explain what Calvinist Amillinialism would look like?

 

[Korah]

hmmm, could you please explain what Calvinist Amillinialism would look like?

Look right here in CF I found on Bing. It gives denominations teaching amill, including RC as one:
http://www.christianforums.com/threads/amillennial-denominations.7721941/

But for RC and other largely postmill groups, since we're already in the millennium there's not much difference, it's all a matter of RC who buy into private revelation from Anna Catherine Emmerich and various Marian visionaries of recent centuries.
For that matter, since Full Preterism believes the Second Coming already happened, it's heretical, but for practical purposes it's the same as Amills who refrain from any talk of immediate end times.
So only Premillenialism is radically different, and it is found among RC in droves, particularly (as I recall from 1977 to 1992 when I was in) in the Charismatic Renewal. And pre-Trib pre-Mill is the most radically different, although post-Trib Pre-Mill tends to be the most anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish.

From reading that thread I cite above, what I find is chaotic. For specifically what Calvinists believe (are there any Calvinists anymore?) probably look at the Westminster Confession of Faith.
Here's the link. Look at the last and next-to-last items.
http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/

 

[Rhamiel]

a lot of modern Catholics do not take End Times theology very seriously
this is unfortunate
you are right, some Catholics are Preterists in all but name
but many are not
I would recommend this book for anyone interested in the topic

http://www.amazon.com/Present-World-Mysteries-Future-Life/dp/1933184388