Pope Francis called for the faithful not to listen to “end-times curiosities” or “apocalyptic preachers.”
“Those who follow Jesus,” Francis said, “pay no heed to prophets of doom, the nonsense of horoscopes, or frightening sermons that distract from the truly important things.”
Yet, it was Christ Himself that prophesied of the doom that is coming to an unrepentant world. Christ predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and drew end-time prophetic parallels to the time of Noah and the flood and the time of Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
“It is important, the pope continued, to distinguish ‘the word of wisdom that God speaks to us each day’ from the shouting of those who use ‘God’s name to frighten, to nourish division and fear.’”
Pope Francis remarks were aimed, no doubt, at those evangelists and other pastors who teach the Bible prophesies about the end-time. Perhaps it is more pointedly aimed at those whose mission it is to link current events to Bible prophecy and help people get ready for the Sunday law crisis. Yet, this is the message that is to be given. Speaking of spiritual Babylon, Jesus says through the apostle John, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18:4.
Francis’ was conducting Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, in Rome when he said these words. The Mass was one of the closing events of the “Holy Year of Mercy” and the “Jubilee for the Socially Excluded.”
The pope’s homily, amazingly, was about Jesus’ remarks on the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem and the end of times. Jesus says that “there will be no lack of conflicts, famine, convulsions on earth and in the heavens when the time comes,” said the pontiff. “Jesus’ aim is not to produce fear,” he added. Instead, God “asks us to persevere in the good and to place our trust” in Him, “who does not disappoint.” While it is true that those in Christ have no fear and put their trust in Him, Jesus instructed us to watch the signs of the times and to discern the seasons. If it were not the preaching of the apocalypse, there would be many who will be lost because they were unaware of the signs of the times and did not get ready for the crisis.
Speaking of the poor and excluded, the pope said, “This is the origin of the tragic contradiction of our age: as progress and new possibilities increase, which is a good thing, less and less people are able to benefit from them,” Francis said. “This is a great injustice that should concern us much more than knowing when or how the world will end.”
“Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us: and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry.” Luke 23:30, 21.