St. Luke XXI, 25-26: And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the
moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with
perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for
fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:
for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
This is that text from
the Gospels with which the ecclesiastical year usually commences. It is
read to the believers at church every year, explained in one way or
another, so as to best serve the preacher's purpose. Even if many of them
do speak of signs and miracles, only a few know what these signs actually
consist in and in what way they will announce the time to come. Most
preachers choose their explanations of this text from the political life
thus endeavoring to explain what is spiritual with worldly examples. This
is quite as futile an effort as if one would try to explain the spiritual
world through the material, whereas it should be the other way round,
since the happenings in the world are the result of spiritual endeavors.
Behold, My children,
when in those times I spoke of signs and predicted to the Jews the
destruction of their temple, only few of them believed My words because
they did not know Me. Now, when I am telling you the same, there are quite
as many doubters and non-believers expecting the signs from a different
side than where they will actually be coming from.
At that time I
predicted the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem and the end of the
Jewish people as an independent nation. I told them that the way in which
they were observing their religious laws was contrary to what Moses and
the Prophets had wanted to give them, and that an end must be made to this
conception and practice by means of the true interpretation for the sake
of which I had come and sacrificed My life.
They did not want to
relinquish what through habit had long since become their faith or
religion. For them the temple in Jerusalem represented the spiritual
edifice of religion. However, since things were so bad in that temple and
religion was preached and practiced to suit the interests of the priests
and Pharisees, this material temple had to be destroyed if mankind were
not to rot in the muddy, stagnant water of their lowest passions. Another,
spiritual, everlasting temple, for which I laid the foundation stone
during My life on earth, could only be built on the ruins of the former.
As from that time and
since My ascension, signs have been given, and still are being given,
until My Second Coming, admonishing people to convert, but it never seemed
to be the right time to destroy the present temple, namely Rome and its
establishment. Even if a ray of light heralding the future illumined the
heart of many a person, in Rome it stayed dark and kept getting darker
instead of lighter.
What once happened in
Jerusalem, where the armed Roman power during a long time respected the
religion and customs of the Jews and gave them a free hand, has happened
also with Rome until this day. The mighty, with sword in hand, well aware
of the nuisance in Rome, did not want to make an end to it, but preferred
to use it in their own interest. However, just as once the Jews brought
about the destruction of their temple and their own downfall through their
presumptions and rebellious attitude, the edifice of the infallible (the
Pope) on Peter's chair in Rome will collapse through the presumption and
blindness of his own assistances and will have to make room for My
teaching as once before. . . .
