Some Deficiencies of Preterism in Apocalypse: Roman Emperors, Armageddon, Scorpion Tails, and 666

Liturgy/Sacraments
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Some Deficiencies of Preterism in Apocalypse: Roman Emperors, Armageddon, Scorpion Tails, and 666

Part I: The Roman emperors of Apocalypse 17

The preterists say that the seven heads or kings are Roman emperors. This is useless meaning. Evidently, five Roman emperors died before St John wrote, One existed while he wrote, and one came afterwards; moreover, presumably a rumor existerd that Nero would come back.

Again, this is useless meaing. This is because all the Roman emperors possess the same characteristics. They self-deify themselves blasphemously and want everybody to worship them or else face torture and death. But it doesn’t matter how many of them ruled in the first century or how they are delineated, since, in the end, the result is the same, namely, the Christians are viciously persecuted by self-defined narcissists. For, whether five emperor’s preceded John or 20 or 3 or 19 and how many came after him whether one or two or nine or seven is completely irrelevant. Whether the reigns are short or long it all comes down to the age of the martyrs, a general persecution.

But Saint Hypolitus of Rome says they could be ages of sin across the whole divine plan and this makes more sense: a great theology; I cover this extensively here:

http://www.theologyoftheages.org/content/apocalypse/greater-ages/ages/creation-days-beast-kings.php

But there is no room for this in preterism because the beast is confined to the first century. This is the first segment of useless meanings. in the next segment, we will move on to the kings of the East as the Parthians.

Part II: The Kings from the East [Armageddon]

When it comes to the kings of the east of Armageddon, preterism is hypocritical with futurism. Let us examine the Scripture:

And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon that great river Euphrates; and dried up the water thereof, that a way might be prepared for the kings from the rising of the sun. 13 And I saw from the mouth of the dragon, and from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. 14 For they are the spirits of devils working signs, and they go forth unto the kings of the whole earth, to gather them to battle against the great day of the Almighty God [Apoc 16: 1-13]

The preterists argue that the kings of the east are the Parthians. The Parthians aren’t any different from China of the fundamentals since in each case it talks about a literal physical Kingdom which is useless data. For, as Pope Benedict Emeritus taught when commenting on the secret of Fatima, the Bible in the New Testament no longer teaches about physical kingdoms following the apostolic period. Hence, Russia, or the Parthians, or the German Reich, or any other thing, is not contained in divine revelation, sparing the Holy Land.

However, the Holy Land is probably only an image of the fact that the time when the physical people of God are reunited with the physical land of holiness, so also shall the spiritual people separated from the spiritual land of beatitude come home to the Catholic Church . Otherwise, geography means nothing. See apocalypse 11 interpreted with common sense as the period between the destruction of Jerusalem and our modern age. I have an article here: Christian Disunity: A Central Question of the Apocalyptic Mystery. Also:

Hence, that are literal physical nation was a threat to Rome is completely useless, and it’s just like the fundamentals who see that China is a threat to the West—no different. Rather, I have an article in the homiletic and pastoral review that goes over the mystical meaning of east. In short, the East symbolizes Christian division since the East is the first great source of Christian division. The East symbolizes the North and fulfills the north of the old covenant. It is part of the theology of schism.

The issue here is that when Christians become divided, the world loses faith; this is the ultimate prayer of Jesus in the Eucharist. This is because the Eucharist ultimately means holy communion. It

Is the communion that Christ desires: one Lord One Faith one baptism. If that unity is shattered, it becomes a scandal to the world and causes them to lose faith in the eternal son. Once faith is lost, the best that can happen initially is a merely natural goodness.

This was effectively the age between Protestantism and the modern apostasy of the 20th century.

It is an age of reason where human beings no longer accept a supernatural God but only believe in following their natural mind and natural abilities in finding answers to human questions and the power to live them. It includes the enlightenment deism rationalism the French Masons and the countless worldly philosophers and scientists who only desire to understand the creation rather than the Creator.

And eventually this condition simply dissolves by confounding into the ultimate horror of denying reason. Hence, atheism, which denies God contrary to reason who can be known by his creation, and relativism, which denies all objective truth.

And this is the supreme depravity and from it can only come Armageddon since when man is a total enemy with God there is nothing to stop him from annihilating himself, his fellow man, who is far more imperfect from God, a sinner.

The east theologically fulfills the North by the theology and schism again. Sociology of schism means that when you have a group of things or persons and one of them is very special, the others will be jealous and break away. Hence, of the 12, the others sold Joseph into slavery. When the kingdom divided, the special one Judah, was rejected by all the ten tribes of the North. Finally, in the New covenant, four of the five apostolic Sees rejected Peter, who is the special one. Hence,s the East symbolizes Christian division.

And Christian division, as it were, is the source of loss of faith in the world. Loss of Faith gives way to strife because when man does not love God, he cannot love his fellow man. Christian division is also in the source of universal war.

This is mysticism and dethrones China and the Parthians.

Part III: The Five Months of Trumpet Fiver [1st Great Woe] as Jerusalem Fall

Now we examine how the preterists treat the fall of Jerusalem in presumably woe 1, or trumpet five, of apocalyspe, chapter 9. Here, the text mentions that people without the seal of God are tortured for “five months,” the time it took for Romans to massacre and destrroy Jerusalem and its temple. The good Christian Jews knew ahead of time that this was coming, and so got out before this. This is evidently what the seal of God People are: the 144,000 are good Jewish Christians who, again, knew what Jesus said about the Temple being laid waste and got out of the Holy Land before it was too late. OK, fine.

But on the other hand, at the time of the Ascension, the Disicples asked Jesus about the Restoration of Israel, still not understanidng why He came, and He tells them, “It is not for you to know TIMES OR SEASONS!” This should be enough proof that the literal five months of Jerusalem is not really data that the Scriptures should reveal. Rather, the five months should be mytcical, doctiinal. Perhaps even anti-sacramental. Incidentally, an entire case can be made from this by Christ’s words. The text of Apocalypse 9 references the five months of totrute as through “scorpion tails.”

Now, we must interpret NT scripture in terms of analogies and teachings of Jesus. So when we see imagery in apoclayspe, we don’t ultimately use OT references, but NT references, namely, teachings and analogies of Jesus.

So for the Scorpions and serpents, one time he told the disciples, I have given you power to trample upon scorpions and serpents. Obiously, this is not lliteral, for if we were to place a set of bishops in a pti of snakes and scorpions, like Harrison Ford in raiders of lost ark, they would be bitten and die. But bishops and the popes have the ower to trample upon SPIRITUAL scoriopns and serpents, namely words that spiritually wound the faithful: heresies, errors, and lies of thd devil.

Too, consdier the Heavenly Father parable about the elements of food and how a a good father would never give terrible thintgs to his childern if they ask for something good, but what good they ask for. Reaity is, in terms of truh and grace, the Heavenly Father does not give the most important of these elements to us diretctly. He gives them through MEDIATING fathers, namely, bishops and priests. The sacraments, and teachicngs of the Church.

Hence, when Jesus says, a good father would not give stone for bread, scorpion for egg, or serpent for fish, he is most likely revealing spiritual mystery of the sacraments (see the five loaves and two fish as the sacraments that I always talk about).

Therein the loaves were the five apostolic sacraments that protestants lack. Hence, if an innoncent Prot asks a hardened Prot minister for the five loaves, he is told those are from Rome and bishops, who are fake, they are fictiouis, I will not give them. These are the stones.

Now, the egg, is that which develops from the intercourse of cock and hen. The cock crows the light at dawn orally. The light is the Word of God, and since the cock is heralding it ORALLY, it can symbolize the ORAL Word of God. The hen is female, and so receptive like the bride of Christ, the Church. Hence, when the Christ has intercourse with the Bride and gives the oral word of God, the Sacred Traditon, it DEVELOPS within the female fowl and then comes foth as an EGG; consequently, the doctrinal development, which comes preceisely from Sacred Tradtio and Bishops, who alone have the guidance to interpret and develop the words of Christ to the world at any time in history, is iike the culmination of such development in the female, the EGG of doctrinal development.

This devvelopment gives certain interpretation of Scripture, so that the faithful do not have to worry about working out the Gospel themselves privately, as with heretics or Prots. They can know FOR CERTAIN what particular scary scriptures mean and relax and just listen to their Mother. They don’t have to cower in fear before myriads of hell-fire preachers all saying listen to my interp or you will perish, yet no two of which can fully agree. Hence, the fiery horseman locust creatures with scorpion tails are the presumptuos heretics that just assume they know what scripture means, and they go out like a multtidue of spiritual warriors to torture, spiritually, innocent heretics, who don’t know where to go or how to avoid hell. The Catholics are protected in their mind or forehead by the Seal in the forehead, the Churh’s unfailling teaching. Without the Mag, one has no certainty what is true, how to avoid hell, and so the innocent heretics don’t have this Cathoic seal and subsequently have to endure spiritual torture at the hand of presumptous minsters.

Hence, when they ask for an egg, they get scorpions, since their spiritual fathers are not true men of God, not possessing true holy orders, not able to give certain answers to scary questions, but bad fathers. For a fuller analysis on hwo the torture and presumption work, see this:

As for the final phase, of serpent in place of a fish, I have gone over this multiple times. The heretics indeed lack the five apostolic sacrements or loaves, but they have a remaining two fish, baptism and marriage. And implicitly, these two sacraments are the very basic religious principles that ANY human person should pursue, regardless of where they live and what religions or lack thereof are prevalent. This is because whereas not all people can be held accountable to christaintiy since it has not been brought to them, or else they don’t have enough info to suspect its truth, nevertheless all human beings have reason, and by reason they see a creation with design. There must ultimately be some essence of divnity behind it since ther is no way in a trillion trillion hells that this is by accident. Moreover, the ccc testifies that the natural moral law is written on every human heart, by virtue of the same reason. No man really has to be told that he doesn’t have to honor his parents and all legit authority. He doesn’t need to be told he shouldn’t murder. He knows he shouldn’t commit adultery or treat sex like a playground. He knows that stealing or lying are wrong. And finally, since, not always is justice rendered in this life, he must ask what lies beyond DEATH?! You would think this queston is important. What two great principles derive from this natural religion is implicty:

Baptismal dispisition, fatih and repentance. Seek objective truth of the meaning of life, whether it is easy or not, and try to keep these principles as best as you can with help frpm the divine as best as you can accoerding to a diligently and rationally formed conscience. And since death is permanent and we should have reasonable hope of benevolence in the divine, and since if we are honest with ourselves, this world is NOT enough, not even a happy marriage if we will never see ourl loved ones again, we must hope for some essence of an afterlife that is personal and transcends this world, which is what we would call the ultimate fulfillment of marriage, which is union with divine in the next life.

These are the two fish that any human person should ask for in this life, else he does not LIVE according to reason. But herein then, the most horrible father will give him serpents. Behold, the lamb has seven horns. The False prophet takes two of them and mocks them into the total lies of the fall, see apoc 13. two of the seven horns are LIKE a LAMB but SPEAK as a SERPENT.

Therfore, the ultimate bad father, the father of lies, the dragon, gives you two serpents in place of fish, namely, the full antithesis of these principles, yet telling you that there will be no consequences either in this life or any other life, and that you will find your ultimate fulfillment in these.

And this is in fact the modren world, totally irrational and spiritually dead. We can digest the lies of the serpent as follows

In place of Faith there is no faith or indifference to it and in place of repentance is the total lack of repentance. It is the person that denies all religious truth, or else doesn’t care about it as irrelevant or does not believe that it can be known to any degree because of confusion. The devil tells them look how confused religion is therefore don’t care about it just believe you want.

As for morals there are countless versions of of morals and which one is fully correct? Bullshit! Just live the way you want, don’t try to find an objective moral law. And there will be no consequences.

And as for next life how the hell do you know there is a next life and what does it really matter? As a certain rock band says you don’t have to die and go to heaven or hang around to be born again just tune in to what this place has got to offer because you may never be here again!

This is the mantra of today and it’s called materialism, living for this world rather than the next, or in other words, fornicating figuratively with the creation, with its brute goods—pleasures, possessions, and accomplishments, or at best natural affection, in exchange for living for the other worldly eternal marriage with the divine.

This is far deeper than seeing the two horns as two divisions of the Jewish authorities who encourage emperor worship. The above analysis applies to any age in history were a great sin reigns. After all, in the Bible, horns have been symbols of power as in the horns of Daniel which symbolized Kings, who obviously have power. Now, Jesus has seven horns, which could symbolize his ultimate, unlimited power. But the false prophet takes two of them to mock them, so they must be something more specific than just ultimate power. And yet the greatest power of the Christ is his power to save us, which is Grace and the greatest sources of Grace are the seven sacraments. From these considerations the above theology flows.

Part IV: 666

We all know the people who think 666 represents Nero’s name in letters as numbers. Okay ,but that is not really the issue. Rather, it is Nero’s character and his spiritual dimensions that matter, for, in fact, as Ellen Gould White points out, a certain way to name the office of the Pope actually adds up to 666 ,but that means nothing. And for that matter, I think that it was found that Ellen Gould White’s name adds up to six six six in one rendering.

What one’s name adds up to doesn’t mean anything; it’s just arbitrary. It is rather the spiritual nature of a person that matters. And in these analogies, Nero is the worst because he claims self-divinity; the pope is the most pure because he has been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven to bind the church in truth. Ellen Gould White is in the middle: she is a poor heretical woman who has some good but gravely misunderstands the Catholic Church. And the fact that each of these persons have a 666 in their name is irrelevant.

All these things show that preterism has many deficiencies and the spiritual historicism and idealism make far more profound sense.

Finally, one may ask, what do you suggest for 666?

Well try this:

God is three in one or three Divine persons in one nature; and he is perfect so his number is 7. Six then falls short of seven and so is like imperfection, which is man, who is imperfect and falls below God. So three sixes in one number is like man, or six, making himself like God, or three in one.Therefore, in one sense, man deifies himself in place of God, or above him even.

In another sense, since man has been created in God’s image, which is to say man as a good being reflects the Trinity of God, so in evil of the Fall, the above number 666, man extrapolates his image onto God, thereby making the Divine into man’s image. This of course is polytheism or paganism, where the gods reflect fallen humanity: passions and immorality and struggling for power and might etc

Well I guess that wraps it up and thank you for reading.

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Addenduum: we should note that these five apostolic sacraments that heretics lose really render their conglomerate religions to be largely non-sacramental, and that they adequately summarize, in all their full theologicial implications, practically all they debate in their hurricane of debates on the the interpretation of Scripture. The below additions is a brief discourse on these:

A Theology of the Five Sacraments that Heretics lose by Leaving the Church

We recall, again, that there are five sacraments that no Protestant can have while Protestant. These five absolutely require the priests and, in one case, a bishop, effectively the Episcopate. They are:

Confession
Anointing of Sick
Confirmation
Holy Orders
Holy Communion

Each of these five sacraments firmly grounds the Catholic child between the extremes of presumption and scrupulosity:

The Catholic Balance

Confession: You can fall from grace after initial justification, therefore, do not presume; but do not cower in fear, for there is a certain remedy for mercy if you do: confession to a mediating father of God’s grace.

Anointing of the sick: There is always mercy from God before death, even in the evening. There is no unforgivable sin before death. God will call upon you unto the end, therefore, do not have unnecessary fear. But do not presume, for he comes like a thief. Postpone not your conversion, for how do you know the priest will be available in your last hour, and you will be unable to muster up perfect contrition when the night descends? ALso, God allows us to suffer, but we can unite our sufferngs to Jesus, offer them up and help save sinners. In this way, we contribtute to the salvation of others.

Confirmation: God sincerely desires that all men might be elect, enough that he offers, through the anointing hands of the priest, seven special gifts of the Spirit to aid you in the mature journey of faith, therefore, fear not. Yet do not presume your election, and forego this sacrament because it is not technically necessary for salvation! For, shall you risk being like the five foolish virgins that did not bring extra oil for the slumbering night?

Holy Orders: There is a sure way to know which men truly speak for God, the true doctrines. It is those men who have been formally ordained by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. These are the true men of God, not merely because they possess Scripture but because they possess the spiritual manual to understand Scripture: the Tradition. Hence, whoever wishes to know the true meaning of Scripture, consult an Orthodox or Catholic priest or Bishop, and, for the fullness of faith, a Catholic bishop or priest who fully aligns with Peter. Hence, do not fear, little one: this is the sure way to know speaks for God. But hard-hearted heretics, presume not! Shall you presume that your private dialogue with the Spirit gives you an edge over the men who formally succeed the Apostles? For if you are just one of myriads of men who hold the Scriptures in your hands, what makes you any different from other 99 men who do the same, but no two of which fully agree with you or one another on all pertinent questions of doctrine? Who called you, O proud heretic? If you say, my pastor did, then who called him, and so forth? Can your lineage be traced formally in history back to the first men of Christ, the Apostles?

The True Communion: There is a certain way to know which disciples truly possess the fellowship of Christ, and this is where the Eucharist is. And this true presence of Christ exists only in the Churches of Catholicism and the Orthodox. Certainly, Christ is literally there. Therefore, fear not, you needn’t search among myriads of competing bible-only factions to find this true communion. On the same token, you proud heretic, presume not that you can be saved if you culpably leave the true Church and found your own sect! For these is One Bride of Christ, who believes the same and worships the same in essence. This is the Catholic Church. If you know she is real, you must stay in her or join her, or perish!

We see here, then, the five sacraments which keep a Catholic balanced.

Now, the dragon twists and mocks the Sacraments. We saw above that the sacraments above, when faithfully received, keep us balanced between the extremes of presumption and scrupulosity. These two, then, are extremes that the devil can exploit in mocking these five great sacraments.

Let us look at the first extreme deeper, presumption; a firmer, self-assuming extreme with five dimensions of haughtiness. The presumptuous persons are hard headed, which is good, but they have also hardened their hearts, which is bad. This is the hard right: Hard headed, hard-hearted. They are the Pharisees. This is the haughty heretic who presumes immunity from the five:

The Presumptuous Heretic

Confession: I have no need of it, for no true believer can fall from grace. If they do, they never knew God to begin with. Or else, I can sin with impunity.

Anointing of the Sick: Modified perseverance: here, the hardened heretic admits that fall from grace might be possible temporarily, but believes that, in the end, God will guarantee his restoration and save him. In effect, this nullifies the Anointing of the Sick. Also, he rejects redemptive suffering. He believes that good people prosper amd bad people suffer.

Confirmation: The hardened heretic presumes that God wants him saved, regardless of anything else, and that it is guaranteed. He presumes he is chosen and elect and hence presumes he needs no special graces like Confirmation to persevere. That is, he considers himself “confirmed in righteousness” and therefore does not retain healthy fear of necessity to persevere, that salvation is it not guaranteed. He scoffs at Catholic confirmation.

Holy Orders: The haughty heretic is certain Rome is an impostor yet has no cowering fear as he reads the fearful Scriptures. He assumes with exaggerated pride and confidence that the Spirit truly leads him privately to understand all Scripture and so proceeds to go out in the field and sow the word, assuming that he is a man of God for sure and casually dismisses any doubt that he is in fact only one of many sola-scripturists who think they understand Scripture in all fullness, yet no two of which, including himself in the mix, can fully agree on all questions of doctrine.

Holy Communion: Ditto, he assumes his particular community must be the true church, while ignoring that no objective formal criterion can really distinguish it from the myriads of other such communities that altogether, again, mutually disagree on a whole host of doctrinal issues.

Let us look at the other extreme: the scared heretic, the overly scrupulous, who is not culpable.

The Innocent, Scrupulous Heretic

This is the innocent heretic. His heart is soft, so he realizes perpetual need for repentance and dependence on God. But the Scriptures, without Rome’s stable Tradition, have left fearful uncertain answers by their harsh hyperbole to the five dimensions above, as follows:

Confession: On the one hand, the heretic fears that if you fall from grace, there is no remedy; you are lost forever. Some heretics believe this. Others say, you can fall from grace but can get it back, but their opinions differ as to precisely howyou might lose grace, much less how to get it back. Some say, it is not so much sin but lack of faith. Others, a lesser group, say any wrongdoing, even minor, cuts you off. Others say, you have to stop trying to follow God but are not specific. To get it back, some say, just resume fiducial trust in Christ to cover you. Others say, start trying again. Others say, you must also turn away from the wrong doing. Some are tortured, “have I really, really, really repented, or am I fooling myself?” Others deny you can fall from grace but say that if you ever do, you never knew God to begin with. This can lead to despair and abandonment of faith, thinking, “If all that time, I seemed to love God, and yet I didn’t, then whatis true love and faith?”

Anointing: Scripture seems to suggest unforgivable sins:

Hebrews 6: There is no remedy for apostasy. “For it is impossible for those who have once tasted…if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance…”

Apocalypse: The mark of the beast, “And the smoke of their torment shall rise forever and ever!”

Matthew: Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit: many Christian counselors must have a training for this, for fearful despairing souls who come in because they think they have committed the unforgivable sin.

James: St James says, whoever swears is damned if he breaks it. No supplemental info is given.

Then, in this horror, if a soul believes that he is unforgivable, the rest of his life is now an evening waiting for damnation, no matter how hard he pleads with God. It is, in a certain sense, an “anointing unto damnation” rather than anointing of the sick. Hence, some Calvinists who have presumed election have said to a poor soul, Well, since you are now damned with no hope, perhaps you should take up your anointing unto damnation and eat, drink, fornicate, and be merry, for when you die, you go into eternal fire!”

also, he is told that his misfortunes and sufferng are his own fault, and that these are a sign that he is not in God’s favor, so as to imply that he is damned.

Confirmation: Calvinism argues that God does not want all men saved. Hence God would not offer the Sacrament of Confirmation since, as it is available to all members of the Church who are ready for it and desire it, and it is a gracious gift of God to strengthen the person for the ultimate calls of faith, even martyrdom, it would clearly imply a Divine Resolve to save all men. Hence, the terrible torture of an innocent Calvinist is to suspect that God doesn’t desire their election, that they are damned. This can arise especially if they are struggling with some sin or sins and failing, a sign that God is not with them and is abandoning them to reprobation. Think of the horror of being told by an “elect” Calvinist that you are not elect, tough luck, God didn’t choose you!

Holy Orders: The innocent heretic does not trust Rome or her other Bishops because of their sins and laxity. So he fears Rome; he cannot go there; they are imposters, the whore, the beast; they are the antichrist. But now, then, without them, and the stability of Tradition, the heretic enters the arena of myriads of competing men and factions, all hell fire and brimstone, claiming to speak for God, but all mutually conflicting. What must he do? He must search the Scriptures in fear, cowering in humility until he thinks he has found all truth. But pray, for if you misinterpret because of your sins, you will perish! That is torture. That is the fearful reality of not knowing for sure who really is a man of God and who isn’t!

Holy Communion: Ditto, Calvin taught that at any age of history, there is guaranteed to be at least one community that fully correctly interprets the Word, but where it is, no one knows! You can only hope you find it. But if you don’t and join even a partially erroneous community, you will perish!

Here, the heretic is soft in heart, humble, having fear of God, but also soft and weak in mind, for they are tossed from one extreme to another, having a gravity of fear Christ does not will; for He desires all of His Father’s children to have the stability of the Church, that their hearts may rest, not fully presumptuously, but in loving trust, balance, having certitude of belief and what is home, and so forth.