The Alabaster Jar of Anti-Sacramental Mystery Part I: Are Liberal and Conservative Extremes Anticipated in the Bible? Probably :)
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: http://www.theologyoftheages.org/content/apocalypse/intermediate-time/christian-disunity-two-witnesses.php. Also:
http://www.theologyoftheages.org/content/apocalypse/intermediate-time/jewish-diaspora-fullness-gentiles-jewish-conversion.php
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:
http://www.theologyoftheages.org/content/apocalypse/ecclesiology/grace/loaves-stones-eggs-scorpions.php
http://www.theologyoftheages.org/content/apocalypse/idealism/seal-of-god-mark-of-beast.php
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.