MhFM’s Eschatology Fetish
Eschatology is the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind (the "end times")
If you're reading this text the world still hasn't ended and odds are acute that it won't be ending any time soon in the foreseeable future.
The obsessive fascination with certain individuals, like the Dimond Brothers (MhFM); who excessively and irrationally devote their lives to postulating abstract “last day” speculations concerning the signs surrounding Christ’s Second Coming and the day of Judgement has proven itself to be little more than self-absorbed, deranged, half-baked, whimsical “end-times” fetishes that are far removed from the reality associated with that biblically declared event.
Christ was explicitly clear when He foretold the signs that shall usher in His “Second Coming” and when that day of Final Judgement would take place.
"But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." - St Mark 13:32
So then why do so many people needlessly, anxiously, and carelessly busy themselves with trying to guess the arrival of that “last day”? Isn’t it enough for us to understand / accept that we must strive to live as we’ve been taught by the Teaching Authority of the Church each and every day that God allots us to exist on this blue spinning orb?
"… the day of the LORD will come like a thief in the night." - 1 Thessalonians 5:2
Your guess becomes as good as anyone’s when it comes to predicting Armageddon. But why waste your time?
Around the year 300, Bishop Eusebius, the first Roman Catholic historian, bemoaned the persecutions of Christians and announced that these martyrs foreshadowed the end of the world
Near the end of the 4th century, Martin of Tours, who was later sainted, insisted the world would end before the year 400.
In the 13th century, the Pope asked Joachim of Fiore (the founder of the monastic order of San Giovanni in Fiore) to determine the last days of the earth. The holy monk decided that the final day was due somewhere around the middle of the century. He identified the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, one of the great rulers of history, as the antichrist, but both men died before the projected “end-times” Armageddon date.
In 1284, Pope Innocent III amended Joachim’s forecast deciding the world would end 666 years after Islam was founded (662 + 666 = 1328). Even the use of that sanctified number by the Vicar of Christ did not do the trick.
And if we fast forward to the time of Joseph Natale (1933-1995), the founder of the MhFM, we find that he and Fr. Nicholas Gruner (1942-2015 founder of the Fatima Center), both believed St John Bosco’s prophecy that the day that would come when the entire Church would be overcome with heresy and that a great cataclysm would strike the world during a month that has two moons. Thus they decided that March 1999 was the new “end-times” date. (The Smoke of Satan by Michael W. Cuneo)
Joseph Natale also stated to a number of people that he was chosen to be a “witness” and thus would live to see Christ’s Second Coming. Alas, Joseph died unexpectedly in 1995 and, of course, the world kept on spinning after March 1999.
It is interesting to note that the Dimond Brothers at one time even sold a video (Biblical End Times Prophecies by Brother Michael Dimond O.S.B.”) in which they upheld their founder’s and new suppositions concerning the end of the world that they have since removed from circulation as it is quite embarrassing for them as to have to admit how naïve and utterly “wrong” they were then and still are now.
Yet these miscreant, self-professed, Benedictines have not learned from that delusional error and go on with the marketing of their “dooms day” rhetoric as there are numerous disgruntled Catholics (unlettered theologians) who, unfortunately, are drawn to MhFM's conspiratorial heresy and schism like moths to a flame.
What is important for Catholics / Christians to understand is that God is a just, loving and merciful God. He is also a very accommodating in that he gives his children the “free will” to live as they please.
While there are many who respect this divine gift by persevering in their faith and living wholesome/ moral lives, many there are who wittingly or unwittingly abuse the privilege bestowed upon them and take others down with them.
God created the world and gave it order, but man, through the abuse of his free will and in part because of Satan’s influence, has turned it into something tragically different.
The things that we as spiritual human creatures are meant to enjoy - simple things like seeing God in snow-capped mountains, hearing God in the waves that lap the seashore, spending time with God in prayer, in church, and cultivating relationships with friends and family members - have been replaced by an overindulgence in “things of this world.”
Worldly things like ... too much television, social media, divisive conspiratorial theories, feverish materialism, etcetera. It cannot last and according to biblical prophecies … it will not last. But as Christ pointed out in St Mark 13:3 ... only God knows when ... not you, me, and especially not the Dimonds
It is no mystery … we are all living in the “end times” as we are human and the odds are that we, like our ancestors, will die before Christ's Second Coming.
In Psalm 90:10 Moses says:
“The days of our years are threescore years and ten. And if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow.”
This seventy to eighty year life span is of course a generalization ... but you get the point, right?
It is up to each and everyone one of us to live each and every day within those allotted years the best that we can. We are not called on to be perfect. Christ’s redemptive ministry and His church was established for “sinners” not “saints”.
“Be who you are and be that well.” St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Simply put … be the person God made you to be. Through conversion / baptism Christ accepted us into His Church, welcoming each and everyone of us exactly how we are … faults and all. We don’t have to be perfect to come to God, we just need to be willing to accept ourselves, with all our talents and flaws, and strive each day to become better Christians.
St. Francis de Sales is quoted as saying:
"There are many who want me to tell them of secret ways of becoming perfect and I can only tell them that the sole secret is a hearty love of God, and the only way of attaining that love is by loving. You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so you learn to love God and man by loving. Begin as a mere apprentice and the very power of love will lead you on to become a master of the art."
"Keep a clear eye toward life’s end. Do not forget your purpose and destiny as God’s creature. What you are in his sight is what you are and nothing more. Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take nothing that you have received … but only what you have given; a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice, and courage."
"Have patience with all things - but first with yourself. Never confuse your mistakes with your value as a human being. You are perfectly valuable, creative, worthwhile person simply because you exist. And no amount of triumphs or tribulations can ever change that."
"Anxiety is the greatest evil that can befall a soul, except sin. God commands you to pray, but He forbids you to worry."
"It is not those who commit the least faults who are the most holy, but those who have the greatest courage, the greatest generosity, the greatest love, who make the boldest efforts to overcome themselves, and are not immediately apprehensive about tripping."
"Fear is a greater evil than evil itself."
And so what about all those tumultuous and threatening signs of “the end of times”? True Catholics rejoice in them and are not afraid:
"And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." St Luke 21:28
And where is Christ’s Church on earth to be found? St Cyprian provided us with the answer:
"Know that the Bishop is in the Church and the Church in the Bishop and that if anyone is not with the Bishop he is not in the Church."
And in closing ... bearing St Cyprian's quote in mind … now ask the Dimond Brothers to provide the name of one duly ordained and commissioned Bishop of the Church that has canonically sanctioned their religious enterprise (MhFM) and whom they are currently "with"?
"Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." - 1 St John 4:1
- Pax Tecum