LIFE IN APOCALYPTICAL TIME
by
Erich Becker
(transl. by Gladys Resch)
As a justified sign that this, our time, can be marked as last days, two timely parallel developments of an epochal way have to be noticed: the "thunder of the nuclear fire, which makes the earth tremble today" (Philbert) and the ostensible agony, the struggling with death of the Catholic Church. For the man in the world, who is far away from God, it will be the nuclear fire, for the faithful Catholic the decline of the Church, which will be the more urgent warning. Both cannot just be a pretending of fear. Unpredictable (and unaudible) the scene is ruled by the nuclear threat. It has especially become a nightmare vision to those, to whom civilisation and possession mean living for amusement and pastime, to whom standard of living, quality of life and the talks about "more democraty" have become idols of living.
"Peace and security!" - Cry of terror of a humanity, who creates for herself the conditions of a last day's catastrophe. Almost obviously are we seized by Christ's talk on the prousia, the Apocalypse, and the 5th chapter of the lrst letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonicans: The brothers in faith must know about the signs that announce the last days. The "day of the Lord" will come "as a thief in the night". Surprisingly, but annoucing itself to the attentive man: "Look at the fig-tree..." (Luc. 21,29) and "while men talk of peace and security, the perdition will suddenly befall them". (1 Thess. 5,3)
What is to-days topic and slogan? Which word marks to-day the mammoth conferences? What moves the apostles for peace, the peace occupiers, the marchers for security, the securtity demonstrators? Who and what is now suddenly putting salt in such a disgusting way into the soup of those terribly frightened and before so uninterested people rejecting God, and propagating "God is dead", that they pull their faces to those of a clown? (Böll) A lamentation, a howling of fear, a shouting, continual scolding, yelping and scrawling - just for what? About the depth of arrogance and inquisitive "knowing everything" and with an all wanting audacity: "We shall know it! We'll see, who is the master of the house. We, the phantastic, we the marvellous people, we the 99% gods!"
But now, these pangs of remorse? This poor bawling to repress what is brought on by own fault: peace and security! (Compare 1 Thess. 5,3.)
At this point it is advisable to repeat the blasphemous talk of Montini at the occasion of the landing on the moon, this plagiarism, this audacious inversion of St. Luc' Gospel, which applauds the arrogance of men:
"Glory be the MAN! Glory to HIS thinking, HIS knowledge, HIS technic, the action of the HUMAN boldness! GLORY be to the synthesis of the scientific activity and the talent for organisation of MAN, who by HIS spirit and HIS manual skill knows how to construct instruments to conquer the world. GLORY TO MAN, THE KING OF EARTH AND TO-DAY PRINCE OF HAVEN! GLORY to the living creature which we are, in which the image of God is reflected, and which, dominating all things, obeys the biblical mission: Multiply and dominate!"
Words of a so-called Pope? Is this not rather the phantasy of a "son of corruption"? ("You will be like GOD!" - Gen. 3,5) Had this man lost his reason? Here another of his sayings, which provokes the hybris and human exaggeration: "According to his principle and his destination, the human being is gigantic and divine!" A gigant man and a god!
One has to respect this frequently because there are still many people acting in good faith, who still will not think it possible or accept a vacation of the papal See. What else has person to utter and the show of an anti-Catholic idolatrie word-painting to be recognised as libertarian? This should be sufficient. If the GOD-given nuclear energy should be misued to destroy the earth - we know the originators!
Let us now consider the second sign, able to announce the death and destruction of the earth and which nearly surmounts the conception of a Catholic Christian: "Selfdestruction of the Church", the selfsurrender of a Catholic Christianity, caused by 'Popes', who, except "for keeping the papal See, were not able anymore to represent anything Catholic. We can forget about their Catholic administrations, their Catholic paraphrases!
The Roman Catholic Church, proclaiming the unshortened doctrine of Christ "to the confines of the earth" has in an incredible short time dwindled away into an incredible small unity. The "small flock" (Luc. 12,32) is present here and now: The small flock, who still celebrates the cult of the more than a thousend years; whose few priests, who have not subjected to the apostasy, renew on the altar the unbloody sacrifice of Christ on the Cross; who still believes in the real presence of the Body and Blood of Christ. The small flock, degraded to a class of outcasts: "We are still the world's refuse; everybody thinks himself well rid of us." (1 Cor. 4,13)
To a Catholic Christian, who has remained in this little community of fidelity, who looks through this cunning, still ridiculous blindmanbuffs game of the spirit of the Council-makers, who uses his eye to see, his ear to hear, his conscience to decide and his heart to "feel with the Church" and who has not thrown everything into the hat of these aggiornamento and counciliar organ-grinders, to such a lively faithful the announcement of the parousia of Christ can to-day become actuality.
With striking sharpness he sees to-day the infamy of the abolition of the holy Sacrifice of the Mass and its replacement by the "Abomination at the Holy Places". ("Let him who reads this recognise what it means." - Marc. 13,14) This is the mortal sin of this time of dissipation! The fullness of the Catholic faith can scarcely be found. Round us only ecumenical soap-bubbles! "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith left on the earth?" (Luc. 18,8)
Already in 1976 Mr. Hugo Maria Kellner Ph.D. estimated that of 1000 members of the old Catholic Church only three were left, who have kept the unalterated faith and have proved objectivism, knowledge and a Catholic mind. Looking around nowadays, this is an optimistic estimation.
The local desertion into the camp of the ennemy (desertion into 'the world') carefully planned, stated like a general major's order, commanded by the highest 'army command', lead by stupid 'officers' and felt like a liberation by 'non commissioned officers and men', is completed in plain public and with a cynism without comparison. The greatest and largest delusion of grandeur betrayal of the human history - only to be compared with the betrayal of Judas - has taken place, and only a few people recognise this wicked action as what it really is: the displacement into madness.
The glorification of man has become an injection for a drug intoxication, by which human beings have by their madness of self-deification, as a matter of fact, placed Christ 'into a corner'. "When you see the abomination of desolation... let him, who reads this, recognise what it means!"
Alert stage number one! And the firebrigade is asleep! The red light of the warning lamp flashes continously - but everybody sees green light! A tiny life-boat (Mr. Kellner calls it: "Left-over-Church") sends forth unceasingly SOS, but on the welfareboat, called "spirit of Council", which floats in a zig-zag movement in the thick fog of the oceans, they danse!
God has given all freedom to mankind, even the one of self-destruction. The estrangement of God in God's own House has been announced by Christ Himself as the precondition of the coming of the end of times. THIS is the INSCRIBED PRECONDITION, not the nuclear threat! Without estrangement of God no nuclear threat!
Let us be prudent and watchful. The faithful Catholic knows neither fear nor panic. He is the realist. He also is proficient in eschatology, i.e. the science of the last things. "I have given you warning of it all." (Marc. 13,33) This way the end of the world does not cause panic and 'mortal fear' to the faithful. The Trinitarian GOD alone is MASTER! In HIS hands is the beginning and the end, everything lies in them.
(Copy of the publication of SAKA-Informations of January 1984 with kind permission of the author.)
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