Four-Part Sermon Series
The End of the World and the Antichrist
Detail from Luca Signorelli’s Deeds of the Antichrist, ca. 1501
There has always been much talk about the Antichrist and the end of times. Some people have a virtual obsession with this topic, so much so that they neglect their own spiritual lives, forgetting that understanding and figuring out every bit of divine prophecy is neither required, nor necessarily salutary, nor even possible (cf. 2 Pet 1:20; Mk 13:31-33). As St. Paul said to the Corinthians: “And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing” (1 Cor 13:2). Knowing all of God’s truths without loving Him, will only earn us eternal condemnation (cf. Jas 2:26). This is an essential caveat to keep in mind.
At the same time, although it is important not to obsess about and get too caught up in issues relating to the end times, it would also be foolish to act as though one could never talk about or try to understand these things. Holy Scripture and indeed our Blessed Lord Himself speak about the end of days and about the arrival, reign, and ultimate defeat of the Antichrist, on numerous occasions (e.g., in Mt 24; Jn 5:43; 2 Thess 2:3-11). These prophecies and sacred instructions were not given to us that we should ignore them, but that we should take them to heart and recognize the signs of the times (cf. 2 Tim 3:16-17; Mt 16:3).
In this spirit, then, we present the following four sermons on the Antichrist and the End of Times, originally given by Bp. Donald J. Sanborn in 2012, i.e. before Jorge Bergoglio began his charade as “Pope Francis” in the Vatican.
Bp. Sanborn is rector of Most Holy Trinity Seminary in Brooksville, Florida. He has often been a guest on various radio programs produced by True Restoration. In 2004, His Excellency engaged in a public debate with Dr. Robert Fastiggi, a theologian of the Novus Ordo religion, regarding the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council. The passionate debate and a follow-up conference can be watched here.
Below, please find the audios of Bp. Sanborn’s excellent four-part sermon series on the Antichrist. Each episode can be played online or downloaded using the down-arrow icon in the respective embedded player.
Antichrist & End of Times, Part I
(by Bp. Donald J. Sanborn; delivered in 2012)
Antichrist & End of Times, Part II
(by Bp. Donald J. Sanborn; delivered in 2012)
Antichrist & End of Times, Part III
(by Bp. Donald J. Sanborn; delivered in 2012)
Antichrist & End of Times, Part IV
(by Bp. Donald J. Sanborn; delivered in 2012)
For more free audios published by Most Holy Trinity Seminary, including weekly sermons by various truly Catholic clerics, access the seminary’s sermon & podcast page here.
In conjunction with the above sermons, we also highly recommend Cardinal Henry Edward Manning’s discourses on the same topic, which he delivered in 1861, and which shed great light on the situation we find ourselves in today:
Interestingly enough, at this time a great many secular people agitate over some kind of “climate catastrophe” they think could spell the end of the world. We Catholics, on the other hand, know that when this world ends, it will not be from merely natural causes. In 1459, Pope Pius II condemned the idea that “the world should be naturally destroyed and ended by the heat of the sun consuming the humidity of the land and the air in such a way that the elements are set on fire” (Apostolic Letter Cum Sicut, Denz. 717a).
In the end, the earth will indeed be destroyed with fire, but this fire will be the mere instrument of the divine judgment: “But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up” (2 Pet 3:10). It is eternal climate change men should concern themselves with, not the natural climate on earth: “For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Mt 6:32-33). Not surprisingly, the Counterfeit Church of Jorge Bergoglio turns the truth on its head.
Bp. Donald Sanborn
There can be no doubt that we are currently living through the Great Apostasy, the time in which the true Catholic Church is undergoing her Mystical Passion. This is proper to the Church, inasmuch as she is the Mystical Body of the Redeemer. As Pope Pius XI taught, “the expiatory passion of Christ is renewed and in a manner continued and fulfilled in His mystical body, which is the Church” (Encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor, n. 14). Thus “the society established by the Redeemer of the human race resembles its divine Founder who was persecuted, calumniated and tortured by those very men whom He had undertaken to save” (Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Mystici Corporis, n. 3).
We can take consolation in the fact that the intensely distressing time period we are now living through was prophesied and thus anticipated by the Church for 1900 years. We must be on our guard, however, not to fall prey to the astonishing and dangerous deceptions that continually enable and accompany the Great Apostasy: “For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold I have told it to you, beforehand” (Mt 24:24-25).
On Pentecost Sunday of 1861, the great English priest Fr. Frederick Faber gave a specific example of the manner in which people would be misled:
We must beware then of dangers from within. We must be upon our guard even against catholic books, periodicals, journals, and pamphlets, however specious they may be. Our Blessed Redeemer said of the false prophets of the last days (St. Matt. xxiv. 24.) that they should “deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Now we must remember, that if all the manifestly good men were on one side, and all the manifestly bad men on the other, there would be no danger of any one, least of all, the elect, being deceived by lying wonders. It is the good men, good once, we must hope good still, who are to do the work of Antichrist, and so sadly to crucify afresh the Lord whom they do more than profess to love. Bear in mind this feature of the last days, that their deceitfulness arises from good men being on the wrong side.
(Rev. Frederick William Faber, Devotion to the Church, 2nd ed. [London: Richardson and Son, 1861], p. 27. Available in hardcopy here.)
In other words, it will not be enough to have good intentions. The work of the Antichrist (!) will be accomplished by people who sincerely mean well! Their subjective disposition cannot change the objective fact that the work they will actually be carrying out is that of the Antichrist, the earthly representative of Satan. This clearly parallels the Passion of Our Lord, for, although many of the Jews who sought Our Lord’s Crucifixion “did it through ignorance” (Acts 3:17), nevertheless “the author of life you killed” (Acts 3:15). In that the deception originates “from within”, Holy Mother Church too follows her Divine Lord, who was betrayed by one of His own: “Have not I chosen you twelve; and one of you is a devil?” (Jn 6:71).
“And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened” (Mt 24:22).
Let us pray for the grace of final perseverance: Jesus, Mary, Joseph!
Image sources: Wikimedia Commons (cropped) / youtube.com (screenshot)
Licenses: public domain / fair use
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