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[Newbie]

What do you think about the Malachy prophecies?

[jimwalton]

I hadn't heard of them, so I did a little reading (maybe 30 minutes) on the Internet. It seems that lots of people think it's a forgery, and the prophecies themselves seem greatly disrespected and disregarded. It seems that despite a few correct things in the list of popes, there are some dramatic misses and mistakes. That's about all I know.

I will say this, though. Dt. 18.21-22 say that if he or she is a true prophet of God, then they will always be right. One mistake, and you're a fake. Luke 17.20 says that the timing of the end times is not able to be figured out, and Matthew 24.36 says the timing of the end times will not be given to anyone. Based on those Scriptures, even moreso than the opinions of people who say it's a forgery, I would say that's it's unreliable as a prophecy of the end.

What do you think about it?

[Newbie]

Well, if it says that, then why does the book of revelations say lots of scary things of the end and blah blah...It's in the bible right???

[jimwalton]

The book of Revelation gives us lots of the details of what will happen at the end, but we still don't know when that's going to happen. Nobody knows the day or the hour. We've been given signs to signal its coming, and people who know the Bible should be able to recognize the signs, so we'll know (hopefully) that the prophecies are being fulfilled. But no one knows, or will be able to predict when, as the St. Malachy prophecy reads, "the formidable Judge will judge his people." People have all these theories about the end that they have created by trying to put pieces of the Bible together like a jig-saw puzzle, and that stuff is possibly helpful, but not ultimately trustworthy. There are so many pieces from so many places, it's impossible that anyone has figured it out flawlessly. So even though we have a bunch of clues, the Bible says no one will be able to come up with the correct answer to the exact time that Jesus will return. My point is that God has told us in the Bible what he wanted us to know about the end times. He specifically says he's not going to give other insider information to somebody. So since St. Malachy is being interpreted as claiming that it will be the next pope, I don't buy it. I look to Scripture for the signs, not to him, because based on the Scriptures, I don't believe that St. Malachy was given the information he claims to have.

Am I helping, or just making it more muddy for you?

[Newbie]

So, he said in the scariest way how he will end this, but he didn’t say when? What about the clues? What about the 4 horses and all that? It sounds very specific when he is going to do it, I mean, even he is giving the information chronologically and in a schedule!

[jimwalton]

Right. He didn't say when. A bunch of the clues are sequential. If you read Matthew 24, there seems to be somewhat of a sequence to things. But it's still general as far as sequence. Some of those things are happening at the same time as other things. And in Revelation, "sequence" gets even shakier, meaning that some of the chapters are just more elaborate descriptions of something that was already said, not what comes after them. That's why God said, "Um, you ain't gonna figure this out. Study it so you understand the signs, but ultimately you won't be able to predict the day or the hour."

As far as the horses that you mentioned from Revelation 6, they are part of the first four seals. The horses are meant to convey POWER and movement. The first horse (white) is military in character: nation at war against nation. The second horse (red) is more sinister than the first. It's also a symbol of war, more fierce than before. Violence is escalating, and possibly civil wars erupt, not just nation against nation. The black horse is a symbol of famine, obviously the result of all the wars, and there is also inflation, economic imbalance and injustice. The fourth horse (pale) is death. Obviously there's a bit of a timeline here. All this doesn't happen in a day. But we're not told when. We can just watch for such a thing, though things like this happen with enough regularity that it would have to be significantly worse than usual for us to go, "Hm, maybe this is Revelation 6."

Why does he talk about the end in such a scary way? Because that's what it will be like. He's just being honest. When he foresees it coming, it would be rotten if he hid that from us and said, "Don't worry. Be happy. It'll be rough but you'll be OK." Instead he's truthful and says, "This is going to be awful and scary. What matters most when it comes is, 'Do you know Jesus?' "

But he doesn't say when.

Keep asking. I'll keep answering.

[Newbie]

But why go to all trouble of making spooky books?? I mean, that’s cruel if you ask me.

[jimwalton]

Revelation was written so that when we actually enter that time of history, whenever it is, people will (1) not think things have gotten so bad that God can't contain them, (2) stay faithful to God when everything looks like it's going to hell in a hand basket, (3) not blame God for it, (4) so that we can learn to see God's divine purpose in it all. If a friend of yours somehow knew there was going an earthquake right in your city, wouldn't you want him to tell you? Or would you say, "That's spooky. Don't be so cruel." Nope. You'd want to know.