Female False Prophets

[jesusandyou]

I had a chance to come to know a person who claim she has extra ordinary powers and is anointed by God. When I was away from home for few hours, this person told other family members of mine that the blessings are still hanging in the air and have not come down yet. I didn't understand what did she mean by that. Probably I have to give some more money to them so that she can bring the blessings down to my house.

Keeping that story aside, how can we identify the False Prophets? There is no doubt that the Bible talks about False Prophets. Do Catholic Church identify false prophets and warn them about it? Same as, the Church found the child sexual abuses and fired most of those priests?

[Seeker]

I would always remain sceptical.  There are a variety of ways to discern whether someone is false or not:

• Do they contradict any of the Church's teachings?
• What are the fruits of their works?

[Melody]

Do Catholic Church identify false prophets and warn them about it?

Yes indeed JesusandYou. The Catholic Church is, though many would claim otherwise, very Biblically oriented.

You can read this article by Archbishop Fulton Sheen (one of my all time favourite authors) titled False Prophet vs. the True Prophet: The Wisdom of Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

There is also a reflection on the Archbishop's Words by Father Andrew Apostoli below the article (as many find it difficult to grapse the entire meanings / multiple layers of his magnificant works).

Blessings,

Melody

[Melody]

Same as, the Church found the child sexual abuses and fired most of those priests?

I saw this part of your question only after I posted & decided to answer separately (rather than edit the previous post) as it's along a different thought line.

If I understood you right, you're inquiring what the Catholic Church does about false prophets within it's doors?

Here's what Father Louis J. Campbell says:

The revolutionaries, realizing that they could never destroy the Church from the outside, decided that it had to be an inside job. They would infiltrate the Church by planting their men in the seminaries, and by befriending and corrupting the younger clergy. Eventually, when these young men became bishops and cardinals, they would have control, the conspirators reasoned, even of the papacy itself. They would have control of the conclaves in which the popes would be elected. The day would come when they would have their man on the Chair of Peter, someone who would do their bidding.

Sounds interesting? Read the rest of the article titled The False Prophets Are Here .

Blessings,

Melody

[jesusandyou]

Interesting! So how many revolutionaries Father Louis J. Campbell could expel from the Church untill now? Are you saying the Priests who are caught sexually abusing under age Children, and later Pope dismissed them, are revolutionaries?

I don't think there is any non-Catholic whom you can find having any interest in the Catholic Church or it's positions. What's Catholic Church doing is to protect the Chair of Peter? One fine day if a 666 comes from that Chair, you can put the blaim on the revolutionaries.

[Matthias]

It is my belief (and the belief of many Catholics) that the anti-Christ will actually be a Pope. But he will will still be protected from teaching error.

This is from a newsgroup (but I think I cannot be saying which one it is because of the rules of this web site). I am not understanding how any Catholic could be saying this. I am thinking maybe this person only pretending to be the Catholic, but he is making also other messages that make me not think this. What do you say to this? Some of the others people in that newsgroup say he is the idiot (they very rude) and other say they are also being Catholic and are agreeing with this.

Do Catholics say that the antichrist will be the pope?

[jesusandyou]

I am not a Catholic. I don't believe that the antichrist will be the pope.

There is always atleast a cell in our body that strives to fight against the will of God. That spirit is Anti-christ. You can see a lot of anti-christ surrounding your neighbourhood.

I don't think the Rome will ever partner with Osama Bin Laden. Both of them have different agenda  . Islamic Terrorists are not going to stop anytime.

[Seeker]

On a spiritual level, I agree with your concept Jesusandyou, that our own rebellion against God's will is an anti-christ type of spirit within us.  I also agree that Islamic terrorists (and most other terrorsists) are not going to stop any time soon.  We're in this battle against terrorism for the long haul.

I'm not real knowledgeable about "end of the world" things (i.e., eschatological stuff) but I think that there will be an anti-Christ who will lead people astray before the second coming of Jesus.

As far as it being a Pope or not Matthias, I think this is all speculation. I would go so far as to say that it is unhealthy speculation. Some Catholics say it will be a pope, but I don't personally believe it to be true. Do we really think we can predict when the "last days" will come and who exactly the anti-Christ is?  I think the anti-Christ, whoever he/she is, will be cunning enough that it will not be obvious.

What is the purpose of such speculation anyway?  What is the fruit of such speculation?  

If we remain in Christ's friendship, and in tune with the Holy Spirit, always testing the spirits, it will be more difficult for any anti-Christ to lead us astray.  That is where we should focus our energy, in loving Christ and each other and remaining in His friendship so that He may live in us.  Not in predicting who, when or where regarding the anti-Christ.

Whatever the personal morality of any pope (and there were some pretty bad ones) God will protect His Church.  I'm not sure that this necessarily prevents any pope from teaching error.  If anyone in authority, (pope, bishop, priest, or Sunday school teacher) teaches something that contradicts Church dogma, that person is in error and must not be followed.  

Here is a quote from Catholic.com (referencing Vatican II) regarding what the charism of papal infallibility is:

As Vatican II remarked, it is a charism the pope "enjoys in virtue of his office, when, as the supreme shepherd and teacher of all the faithful, who confirms his brethren in their faith (Luke 22:32), he proclaims by a definitive act some doctrine of faith or morals. Therefore his definitions, of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church, are justly held irreformable, for they are pronounced with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, an assistance promised to him in blessed Peter."

If he is not speaking as the "the supreme shepherd and teacher of all the faithful" proclaiming "by a definitive act some doctrine of faith or morals" then he could say something in error.

One more quote from the same site might be helpful:

What infallibility does do is prevent a pope from solemnly and formally teaching as "truth" something that is, in fact, error. It does not help him know what is true, nor does it "inspire" him to teach what is true. He has to learn the truth the way we all do—through study—though, to be sure, he has certain advantages because of his position.

Here's the link to an earlier discussion where we dicussed Papal Infallibility.

Hope this helps, or does it just raise more questions?

My personal opinion on the anti-Christ is that it is working against humanity and the Church today, and has been for years.  I see the spread of abortion and artificial contraception as evidence of this.  Is it one evil mastermind human? I don't think so.  Who needs the anti-Christ when we have the devil, the world, and our own selfishness to contend with?  The same weapons God provides us to defeat these enemies can be used to fend off the anti-Christ's seductive message whenever that comes.

[jesusandyou]

And there are people in the Catholic Churches who try to make a fortune by destroying other innocent people lives. They are "anointed" until someone uncovers their fraud. They become "anti-christ" when everyone comes to know the truth. A person is made anointed as well as anti-christ by the same Church and the people. Its a matter of time. However this does not make sense to me. There is fundamentally wrong in the leadership or the Church.