When you ask somebody this question , be prepared to face the most unexpected of replies. Some may even ask; who is this ‘he’? For the sake of clarity, let me tell you; We are talking about the second coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Now ask some of your catholic friends. “Will he come again?”. I challenge you, a good number of your catholic friends will straightaway deny it. Yes. We are living in strange times. We are living in dangerous times. We are living with strange and dangerous friends as well, who call themselves catholics, yet least bothered about the most important thing going to happen in their lives. Our society promotes a living style which directly confronts what Jesus Christ taught us. For many around us, the mention of the very name ‘Jesus Christ’ is unwelcome.
As such, any mention about the second coming of Jesus Christ is bound to attract pungent reactions. They will ask; “Where is the promise of his coming? For, ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation”. Peter knew this is going to happen in the endtimes. And he knew the reason too; that those who ask such questions are scoffers indulging their own lusts. In fact Peter warns the believers of the last generation
( if you are ready to believe, it is our generation) about the shape of things they have to endure just before our Lord returns (2 Peter 3:13). He explains that the present heaven and earth are reserved by God’s immutable Word to be consumed by fire, when the judgement and destruction will befall a godless generation.
Then, why does he wait? It has been two millenieums since the warning was given by Peter. Yet all things continue as has been in the past. Their question seems quite logical. What they see everywhere is life going on smoothly as planned. Then why should they bother their epicurean minds with something written some twenty centuries ago? We have no answer except what happened during the days of Noah. Till the moment Noah entered the Ark everything was perfectly normal. They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. Then flood came and destroyed all of them. Likewise, it was in the days of Lot also: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed all of them ( Luke 17: 27-29).
Someone may ask; Are you saying that this world is going to be destroyed? I would have been more happy to comfort you by giving a negative answer, but unfortunately the Scripture does not permit me to do so. Return to Luke’s gospel. Just before giving this prophecy, Jesus adds something more. He says that the days of the Son of Man will be similar to the days of Noah! And he repeats the message immediately after delivering this prophecy by indicating that the endtimes will be similar to the days of Lot! If Jesus had said the same thing twice within a span of four verses in the gospel, don’t you think that it is something so important? If you still doubt, Luke’s gospel sheds further light on this topic. That there is a chance of the hearts of so many persons getting weighed down because of dissipation, drunkennes and the worries of this life and that they might be caught unawares when the Lord returns.
Now tell me, what happened to the generations of Noah and Lot so as to attract the wrath of God? We can deduce two things from a simple reading of the book of Genesis. Bible says that, in Noah’s times the wickednes of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. Was it the sole reason? Often we skip the preceding paragraphs which narrates an interesting thing collateral to what we discuss. An entire generation including Nephilims( or men of gigantic stature) were destroyed in the deluge, testifies the Bible. Nephilims are the offspring of a strange or rather abnormal combination. They were the children born to the sons of God in daughters of humans. Douay- Rheims Bible describes these men as being not only tall in stature but violent and savage in their dispositions, and mere monsters of cruelty and lust. Now just rewind what we have been seeing in the news papers, television and science journals. We are so close to attaining the feat of creating designer human beings. They will have supernatural powers and, mind you, they will be born byepassing the normal process of intercourse between a man and woman. In other words, we are going to witness a modern version of Nephilims! We are living in a highly secularised generation driven primarily by the basic instincts of every individual, where men and women seek nothing but mere carnal pleasures. Their cruelty know no boundaries so as to even kill their own kids before they are born.
Second thing is about Lot’s times. Bible is very precise in this regard. The sin of the people of Sodom was nothing but homosexuality. When a vast majority of the people sell themselves to the abominable practice of homosexuality, a cleansing by fire is natural. Remember, in the entire city of Sodom only Lot was found righteous in the eyes of the Lord. Bible testifies that ‘ the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house of Lot and demanded him to bring out his guests so that they could “know” them’. Now look around and see for yourself, what we are witnessing nowadays. A number of countries, majority of them christian by name, have already legalised the abomination called homosexuality. Yes, we are living in times similar to the times of Lot.
I would like to blindly believe the Bible and the Catechism of Catholic Church. Both clearly say that one day Jesus Christ will come in glory to judge the living and the dead. Everyday we repeat this when reciting the Apostles’ Creed. In the Holy Mass, we proclaim our belief that Jesus Christ will indeed come one day. Holy Eucharist is a celebration to be continued till he comes again.
So, is it time for Jesus Christ to come? Frankly, I don’t know. Because before ascending into the Heaven he indicated that nobody, not even the Son, knows the exact timing of his second coming. It is the prerogative of the Father. Then, the natural question is why all these discussions about the second coming because nobody is sure about its timing! Well, Jesus has not given us the exact timings. But he has left us a number of signs scheduled to happen before he returns to this world. We can read them in the gospels of Mathew ( chapter 24), Mark( chapter 13) and Luke(chapter 21). God willing, we will discuss, sometime later, each and every such sign one by one.
As the signs predicted by Jesus Christ are being unfurled around us, we the VCatholic team, invite all of you who believe that the glorious second coming of Jesus Christ in nigh, to increase the time you spend with the Lord everyday. Fix your eyes on the Crucified. Because the times ahead of us is a period when every true believer is supposed to go through a period of suffering, hardship and persecution such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now,no, and never will be ( Mathew 24:21). We need the help of Holy Spirit, the comforter promised by Jesus Christ to pass through this ordeal without deviating from faith.
