The Signs of Ignominy are appearing! 3rd Sunday of Lent

The Signs of Ignominy are appearing!

Lent 3rd Sunday

The articles I have written for the Sundays of Advent and now for Lent rely upon the Old Testament prophecies since they are the preface to Jesus' birth and the Parousia.  It is fine to speak about the current activities expanding in the Church, the world, and the needs that remain unfilled.  However, when one looks into these old writings, he will discover the pattern that each prophecy has occurred in history and leaves no imagination to the coming events that are so carefully laid out.  

As I mentioned before, many of us can describe the sidewalk prophets predicting the end of the world is imminent and you better prepare yourself.  Usually most people will walk by with a smile on their face and ignore those messages.    

However, there may be some who’ll take the warnings seriously and at least find them searching the scriptures to support the message the side-walk prophets spoke of.  “At that time  there shall arise Michael, the great prince, guardian of your people;  it shall be a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began until that time.  At that time your people shall escape, everyone who is found written in the book.  Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake;  some shall live forever, others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace.  But the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever.”  (Dn 12:1 - 3).  

I often see how many people read the works from Daniel and other Old Testament books passing it off as someone making sure to get writings of the bible inserted in various sections to complete a particular theme.  That in itself is fine, but as we say, “read between the lines” to get a better idea of what that theme is implying.  In the culture of speed-reading so many are now using, I believe the real message can be lost by skipping over pronouns and other grammatical marks that can change the real intent of speech on paper.  The A I (artificial intelligence) that appears to be the new way of communicating through written and spoken techniques will in fact rewrite how we talk with each other and miss the essence of the real intent that can become an ideal of anyone’s adversary.  You may say, “intellectual people will grasp the meaning of my words,” but to most that will run off our minds like water over a dam.

Short-cuts are used in every aspect of technology, but when exact calculations of definitions are needed, finding alleys to drive around crowded streets sometimes will lead to dead-ends.  Can you imagine when calculating the exact amount of fuel needed for space shuttles or exact moments of this or that needed for an exact landing if we find short-cuts and hope for the best?  AI may not work in these moments of precise numbers, or a brain surgeon skipping a page or two in medical manuals to finish a needed surgery with exact moves of a scalpel to a closure of an artery to the brain for an important surgical technique.  There are some advances in technology that cannot use short-cuts to save time.  So it is with reading the bible and especially the Old Testament prophecies.  These are the exact measurements of God’s word to what is imminent at a non-disclosed period of time, but is in fact going to occur. 

We must never look down on the prophecies of today’s word whether in verbal pronouncements or the truth on paper.  Prophets are not just heroes from the past; many are in pulpits or at a computer speaking the truth of God.

The prophet Isaiah spoke of the lasting reward and punishment spoken in Daniel and other prophets.  “All mankind shall come to worship before me, says the Lord.  They shall go out and see the corpses of the men who rebelled against me;  Their worm shall not die, nor their fire be extinguished; and they shall be abhorrent to all mankind.”   (Is 66: 23 - 24).

Ralph B. Hathaway