We return to the beginning of the Apocalypse to discover a surprise – the letters to the Churches, written millenia ago, provide valuable insight for just these days. Of course, each century of the Church’s history has been able to say that to some extent, but as we read the first three chapters, we do see a rather astonishing array of lessons for the Church in this most troubled time. Our readings are taken today from Apocalypse 1-3, Catholic Bible Online.
When St. John the beloved Apostle set down the words revealed to him in the Apocalypse, he began with:
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to make known to His servants the things which must shortly come to pass: and signified, sending by His angel to His servant John, who hath given testimony to the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, what things soever he hath seen. Blessed is he, that readeth and heareth the words of this prophecy; and keepeth those things which are written in it; for the time is at hand.”
The first thing we notice is the phrase, “must shortly come to pass” which is then repeated for emphasis in the end, “For the time is at hand”. And when was this written? So you see that the timeframe expressed in sacred scripture is vastly different from our timeframe. An instructor once remarked on this timeframe that ours is, “like a mayfly’s”.
Continuing in Chapter 1, we see,
“I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying: What thou seest, write in a book, and send to the seven churches which are in Asia, to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamus, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
Ephesus
In Chapter 2, John reveals the Lord’s message to these churches which represent His message to all Catholic churches in all ages, but with especial relevance for the latter times of the great tribulation. The first church is that of Ephesus, which Christ chides,
“Thou hast left thy first charity. Be mindful therefore from whence thou art fallen: and do penance, and do the first works. Or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou do penance. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaites, which I also hate.
Note the emphatic way in which, Our Lord asserts the need for hatred of sinful deeds. These letters set the tone for understanding God’s will for us in troubled times. In His message to the Bishop of the Church at Ephesus, Christ warns him – and us – of losing our charity, He urges us to do penance and “to do the first works”, that is, the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. But the gist of the message may be found in Our Lord’s hatred for the deeds of the Nicolaites and His commendation for the Ephesians for hating these sinful deeds as well.
The Nicolaites were guilty of a casuistry, that is, the use of complex reasoning to justify moral laxity, similar to that of the present pontiff, in that they managed to find a way to laxity in the law. This false tolerance allowed Christians to eat meats sacrificed to idols (that is, allowing participation in satanic rituals) and even allowing that “whoever should have committed fornication might receive peace on the eighth day.” (“The Book of Destiny“, Fr. H. B. Kramer) Fr. Kramer further notes that early writings indicate that the Nicolaites tactics were akin to the Balaamites and Gnostics. The sin of Balaam was to allow sexual depravity to lure Israelite men into sin and so weaken them.
As we consider this passage, it appears that the error hated by Our Lord is precisely that tolerance of mortal sin that we see vaunted today in the false mercy and false ecumenism of the neo-modernists now in power in the Church. Understood correctly, this message is a warning against the tolerance for sin which has so infected the Church over the past century. The result has been a stupefying indifference towards the most grievous errors and inability to counteract them.
Smyrna
The second church addressed is the Church of Smyrna,
“These things saith the First and the Last, who was dead, and is alive: I know thy tribulation and thy poverty, but thou art rich: and thou art blasphemed by them that say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil will cast some of you into prison that you may be tried: and you shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful until death: and I will give thee the crown of life.”
This message is a warning of martyrdom and great suffering and a reminder of the even greater reward for those who remain faithful. And it applies to these times most precisely. By the term, “was dead and is alive”, it also counteracts the modernist heresy condemned by Pope St. Pius X in Pascendi Domenici Gregis, 16, In #16, St. Pius X condemns the following, “. ..if it be objected that in the visible world there are some things which appertain to faith, such as the human life of Christ, the Modernists reply by denying this.” In Apocalypse 2, 8, Christ asserts that He is, “the First and the Last, who was dead, and is alive” thus confirming His actual bodily death and actual bodily Resurrection.
The term Synagogue of Satan refers to the enemies of Christ and in these sad times, these enemies are within the very heart of the Church. Jesus encourages us to fear them not. He warns that we shall have tribulation for “ten days”, thus comforting us that this too, shall pass. Fr. Kramer notes that ten is the perfect number of the world, while twelve is the perfect number of God. Thus we understand that the world’s idea of completion is surpassed by God and that what appears a persecution in the eyes of the worldly is in point of fact, an opportunity for greater glory in heaven with God and His saints forever.
The message to Smyrna ends with the emphatic, “He, that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches: He that shall overcome, shall not be hurt by the second death.” In this warning of the coming martyrdom, there is the promise that those who overcome, that is to say, those who give their life for Christ, will not suffer the eternal death of the damned. A salutary rebuttal to the heresies promoted today by the Synagogue of Satan, true enemies of Christ who control the church at present. We shall meet them again in the message to the Church at Philadelphia.
Pergamus
The third message is to the church of Pergamus:
“These things, saith He, that hath the sharp two edged sword: I know where thou dwellest, where the seat of Satan is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith. . . . thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat, and to commit fornication: So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaites.”
Now Pergamus means citadel and Jesus here asserts that this citadel has become the seat of Satan. He commends those in Pergamus, where the seat of Satan is, yet who still hold fast His name and have not denied the faith. By the term “the stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat and to commit fornication” we understand the tactic of Balaam who used pagan women to lure the Israelite men into base sensuality, tempting them into feasting on food sacrificed to idols (that refers to participating in Satanic rituals), and into fornication with them.
Now fornication has the dual meaning, referring to heresy and apostasy as well as lust. Additionally, we note Christ’s anger at those whose false mercy allows those grievous sinners to then receive the Blessed Sacrament. By this passage, we may understand the stumbling-blocks placed in the path of the faithful by the new theology of Pope Francis and his crew of modernists, These men use false mercy to condone unrepentant sinners receiving the sacraments unworthily and allow impure unrepentant priests and bishops to continue in office despite their scandalous sins.
He also again warns against the sins of the false doctrines of Balaam and the Nicolaites. This repetition of the injunction against the deeds of the Nicolaites, reinforced with the injunction against the doctrine of Balaam, gives an additional gravity to the warnings against laxity in moral teaching. Jesus Christ closes this message with,
“In like manner do penance: if not, I will come to thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He, that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches: To him that overcometh, I will give the hidden manna, and will give him a white counter, and in the counter, a new name written, which no man knoweth, but he that receiveth it.”
Fr. H. B. Kramer notes here, “Christ will fight the evil-doers with the two-edged sword of His word, which will separate the good from the bad, bring bloodshed and grief and tears of repentance. Those who repent will be saved but will first die in martyrdom. That God is a man of war, appears first in Exodus (XV. 3). If the bishop excommunicates the heretics by enforcing the apostolic decrees, the church will be spared the intervention of Christ and will remain under His protection.
My only comment here is that it appears we today are so unfortunate as to see the alternative, the Bergoglian revolution asserting error and persecuting the faithful. This will hasten the intervention of Christ. The hidden manna is a promise to restore once again the precious gift of the Holy Sacrifice and the Eucharist, the “counter” is the ever-present offer of forgiveness and re-instatement for those who repent, for as Jesus reminded us through Sister Lucia, It is never too late to repent and return to Jesus and Mary.
Thyatira
The fourth message, to the Church at Thyatira, Christ says, “These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like to a flame of fire, and His feet like to fine brass.” The reference to His eyes like a flame of fire repeats Chapter 1, verses 14 and 15, wherein, “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and His feet like unto fine brass, as in a burning furnace.” Fr. Kramer notes here that this intimates, “His Omniscience. It alludes to Ezechiel (VIII. 2) and the abominations of idolatry (satanism) secretly practiced in the Temple, where God also appeared to the prophet’s eyes in the likeness of fire. God will penetrate the secret recesses in which Jezabel practices her abominations and will sound the “depths of Satan” (II. 24).”
The term Jezabel may be applied to those impure and effeminate clerics who serve satan and not Christ in the very heart of the Church, the so-called Lavender/St. Gallen Mafia who placed Pope Francis on the throne. Fr. Kramer notes that King Achab permitted a woman named Jezabel to teach her evil heresies in the church and to establish worship of Baal, that is to say, Satan. Once again, we see the injunction against eating meats sacrificed to idols, i.e., to satanic ritual. This triple warning against sins of impurity is ignored at our own peril. Father Kramer warns, “the plague shall strike the spiritual progeny of this new Jezabel. It will be a manifest punishment like the judgments upon the followers of the Beast (XV.), and the attribute of the “eyes like to a flame of fire” will become manifest to all the churches.”
The reference to the depths of Satan” points to the Gnostic sects and is applicable today but we will not discuss it at this time. The message to the Church at Thyatira closes with an especially comforting and prophetic note:
“Hold fast till I come. And he that shall overcome, and keep my works unto the end, I will give him power over the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and as the vessel of a potter they shall be broken, As I also have received of my Father: and I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.”
Note the prophetic reference to the “Rod of iron”.
Sardis
Next, we go to Chapter 3 for the message to the Church at Sardis, bearing in mind that this message, as the others, is for all the church at all times but most especially it is for the latter times, when the combat shall be most intense. Our Lord Jesus Christ here says,
“I know thy works, that thou hast the name of being alive: and thou art dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things that remain, which are ready to die. For I find not thy works full before my God. Have in mind therefore in what manner thou hast received and heard: and observe, and do penance. If then thou shalt not watch, I will come to thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know at what hour I will come to thee.”
The Bishop (Angel) to whom this message is addressed has sinned against the Holy Ghost, has cultivated worldly “virtues” of tolerance, expediency and diplomacy, that is, has become a hypocrite tolerant of impurities in doctrine and morals, and diplomatically ignores false teachings and even blasphemies in the name of mercy and ecumenism. Thus, the Bishop of Sardis is the very template for the hypocritical, modernist Bishops of Pope Francis’s Reformed Church
Philadelphia
The next message is to the Angel (Bishop) of the Church at Philadelphia.
“These things saith the Holy One and the true one, He that hath the key of David; He that openeth, and no man shutteth; shutteth, and no man openeth: I know thy works. Behold, I have given before thee a door opened, which no man can shut: because thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will bring of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and adore before thy feet. And they shall know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon the whole world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”
This is an encouragement to the faithful Remnant, as prophesied by Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora. If this congregation continues steadfast in the faith, growing more in grace with each passing phase of the persecutions, they will be rewarded by receiving the conversion of not only the Jews but those who have followed the second beast and have now repented. This remnant congregation knows that they are weak and therefore depend totally on Jesus and she whom He sends – the Immaculata. Thus, to them is given the grace to stand fast in the faith. It would seem that this passage indicates that the institutional church, so long suffering the eclipse of the faith, will return to the faith by acknowledging the community of the faithful remnant. The conversions of those Prelates who have at last rejected the false doctrines of the faction of Jezabel are the reward for the remnant’s steadfast refusal to compromise with the spirit of the world.
Laodicea
The final message is to the Church at Laodicea, which we have mentioned in previous posts. To this Church, as to us all at this time, He warns,
“These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, who is the beginning of the creation of God: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.
“Because thou sayest: I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing: and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
“Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance. Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear my voice, and open to me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that shall overcome, I will give to sit with me in my throne: as I also have overcome, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.”
We note the relevance to our sad time under the blight of this pontiff and his wrecking crew, who make an unholy mess of the Temple of God. The lukewarm laity who respond to this time of scandal and crisis by allowing themselves to drift from the faith instead of joining the great spiritual battle under the banner of the Immaculata – these are the true Laodiceans, and although they may not recognise it, they are the true followers of the St. Gallen Pope, who always leads his followers to the peripheries, away from the true teachings of Christ.
But we might also take heart in the promises offered to us in these first three chapters of the Apocalypse which reveal a restoration of the faith when at last those who have fallen into the error of following the Second Beast repent and return to the true faith, that is the traditional faith of all time, which has been preserved for them by the small and weak remnant represented by the Church at Philadelphia.
Please, Pray the Rosary and confound satan and those who serve him!
† . Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of our hearts, Mother of the Church, do thou offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the conversion of poor sinners, especially our Pontiff.
† . Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy kingdom come! Viva Cristo Rey!
~ for love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, King.
Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O Sacred Virgin! Give me strength against thine enemies!