Year of Faith

The Year of Faith (11 Oct 2012 to 24 Nov 2013) is about to begin. The grace and providence of God has decreed this period of time for a reason: the tribulation is about to begin. Right now, most persons who call themselves Catholic are in a state of at least material heresy; many are in a state of formal heresy. The faithful are poorly catechized. They do not understand the most basic teachings of the Church on faith and morals. Many of the faithful are essentially unfaithful — they consider that they have little or no obligation to believe what the Magisterium teaches. Many of these unfaithful souls spread their grave errors over the internet.

Will they be corrected, during the Year of Faith, by the teachers of the Church? How can they be? Most teachers are also poorly catechized. They do not understand even the most basic principles of ethics, such as the three fonts of morality and the absolute immorality of every intrinsically evil act. Many priests, religious, and theologians in the Church today are in a state of material heresy, or even formal heresy, themselves. Yet they continue to teach heresy and grave error to the unsuspecting faithful, with the claim that these errors are magisterial teaching or sound theology.

[James 3]
{3:1} My brothers, not many of you should choose to become teachers, knowing that you shall receive a stricter judgment.

Teachers shall receive a stricter judgment, soon.

A New Pope

During the Year of Faith, Pope Benedict XVI will die and a new Pope will be elected. I believe that the next Pope will be Cardinal Arinze as Pope Pius XIII. The role of Pope Benedict in the plan of God was to be a Pope of Peace before the next great war: World War 3. His Pontificate did much to call people to love, faith and hope, but little to correct the teachers and promoters of doctrinal error. The next Pope will require the Catholic faithful to believe and practice the Faith in order to continue as members of the Church. Most Catholics will respond by leaving the Church, in an event called ‘the great apostasy’.

The reign of the next Pope will be short, because World War 3 intervenes, causing chaos and fear in the world. The next Pope will die a martyr for the Faith during the War, just as I have explained at length in my eschatology books.

World War 3

The Prophet Daniel predict that the start of the tribulation coincides with a war:

[Daniel]
{8:3} And I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a single ram stood before the marsh, having two high horns, and one was higher than the other and growing higher still.
{8:4} After this, I saw the ram brandishing his horns against the West, and against the North, and against the Meridian, and all the beasts could not withstand him, nor be freed from his hand, and he did according to his own will, and he became great.
…
{8:16} And I heard the voice of a man within Ulai, and he called out and said, “Gabriel, make this one understand the vision.”
{8:17} And he came and stood next to where I was standing, and when he approached, I fell on my face, trembling, and he said to me, “Understand, son of man, for in the time of the end the vision will be fulfilled.”
{8:18} And when he spoke to me, I fell forward onto the ground, and so he touched me and stood me upright.
{8:19} And he said to me, “I will reveal to you what the future things are in the earlier tribulation, for the time has its end.
{8:20} The ram, which you saw to have horns, is the king of the Medes and Persians.

The Persians (Iran) and the Medes (Iraq and the other Muslim nations of that region) make war to the West (the U.S.), to the North (Europe), and toward the Meridian (toward the equator in Africa). This passage from Scripture describes World War 3, which is the first horseman/first seal of the Book of Revelation.

The preparations for this war are already unfolding. The recent violent protests and outrage in Muslim nations against the West was not really about a movie or video clip. Rather, it was an expression of longstanding resentment, anger, and hatred against the West, a result of the deep division between those two groups of nations. Many persons in the Muslim/Arab nations of the Middle East and northern Africa would welcome and even rejoice in a war against the West. So would many leaders in those nations.

Iran Nukes

In the recent U.N. general assembly, the President of Iran spoke about the End Times and a worldwide Islamic caliphate (kingdom). A day later, the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, also mentioned the End Times:

“Iran’s apocalyptic leaders believe that a medieval holy man will reappear in the wake of a devastating Holy War, thereby ensuring that their brand of radical Islam will rule the earth. That’s not just what they believe. That’s what is actually guiding their policies and their actions.” (Full Text)

In previous public comments, Netanyahu called the current Iranian regime “an apocalyptic cult”.

The current Iranian regime is seeking a war against the West. Why? They see themselves as the leaders of the Arab/Muslim world and a budding world superpower. Many reasonable and well-informed persons know that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons. What many persons do not know, is that the Iranian leaders are motivated by a belief that the End Times (the radial Shia version of the end times) is about to begin — and that their role is to start a war between the Muslim nations and the West, to establish a worldwide Muslim kingdom.

To that end, Iran is seeking nuclear weapons. They need at least three: one to use, and two to hold in reserve as a threat against Israel and the U.S. I’m convinced that Iran has a covert uranium gas enrichment facility and that they may already have one nuclear bomb.

Once the U.S. elections pass, there will be a substantial increase in the likelihood that the U.S. will support a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Prime Minister of Israel set a date for possible military strikes on Iran of spring in 2013. If Mitt Romney wins the election, Iran will have an even great expectation of a military strike. Even if Obama is reelected, Iran realizes that time is short. They need to complete at least three nukes, before a U.S./Israel attack wreaks havoc on their nuclear program.

World War 3 begins with a nuclear attack by Iran on New York City. When? All too soon. Either in late 2012 or early 2013. This terrible war is the first event of the tribulation.

[Revelation 6]
{6:1} And I saw that the Lamb had opened one of the seven seals. And I heard one of the four living creatures saying, in a voice like thunder: “Draw near and see.”
{6:2} And I saw, and behold, a white horse. And he who was sitting upon it was holding a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went forth conquering, so that he might prevail.

by
Ronald L. Conte Jr.
Roman Catholic theologian and
translator of the Catholic Public Domain Version of the Bible.