The Pope Said What?!?!

This is kind of “old news” at this point, but if I talk about it quick enough, it may still be relevant. So here goes…

The Pope (the current one, you know, Pope Francis) told a crowd gathered at a mass that this past Christmas will very likely be the last Christmas. What The Francis?? And he said that we are currently living in the end times?? I thought it was only the “crazy evangelicals” that thought like this? This may require some further looking into...

So what exactly did he say?

“While the world starves, burns, and descends further into chaos, we should realize that this year’s Christmas celebrations, for those who choose to celebrate it, may be their last.”

Well, that statement could easily be taken as the Pope saying that the world is going to end, but he could just as easily be saying that the people who are dealing with starvation and the chaos of war may die so this may be their last Christmas. At this, I'm still not certain that the Pope intended his statement to mean that nobody will have another Christmas. Though, I'll admit that my predilection for riding the wave of conspiracy theories wants me to buy into this one.

In an earlier event the Pope stated that Christmas this year would be a “charade” because the world was engulfed in World War 3. This doesn’t, necessarily, speak to whether we’re talking about the last all-time Christmas or just the last Christmas for the dead and dying (both are… bad), but it does speak to a mindset that the Pope seems to have. This dude (forgive me if it is bad form to refer to the Pope as dude, I'm not sure of the formalities here) is either being melodramatic, or he believes that the whole shebang is coming to end pretty immediately.

Now, I wasn’t alive for World War 1 or World War 2, so I’m not sure if either of them were referred to as a World War while they were going on. Actually, I know that WW1 was called The Great War while it was going on, and possibly even The World War (but certainly not World War 1, as it's not like they intended to make this a tradition). But was WW2 referred to as such while it was going on?

(I just did a google search, and it would appear that it WAS called WW2 at the time. Who would’ve thought…)

So, I guess a new question would be, should we be referring to the current state of war in the world as WW3? I mean, there are wars and rumors of wars (Matthew 24:6), so this very possibly is the end times. And then there’s the whole Petrus Romanus thing. We all know that I have a penchant for conspiracy theories, but I don’t even think I’m stretching that far on this one. My only real concern about this being the real deal is that it seems a bit strange that he’s telegraphing his punches so much. Or is this the beginning of the coming great deception? Could it be so evident that we wouldn't think that the enemy would show us that much, and that's how he gets away with it? OK, I'm willing to admit that may be a bit paranoid, but I doubt anyone's surprised that I think that way.

Oh and here’s a fun fact: you know that place in Matthew 24 that says “many will come in my name saying, ‘I am the Christ’”? One of the titles for the Pope is the Vicar of Christ. Back when that title was given to Popes the term actually meant “in place of Christ.” Now I’m not saying that PF (that’s what I call Pope Francis…) is saying that he is the Christ, but PF is trying to put himself in the place of Christ, so... Jesus said that no man can come to the father but through Him, well… PF has stated the atheists can go to heaven so it appears that he has changed the dictates of Jesus, thus putting himself in the same place as Christ, in his mind.

Do I sound like a crazy conspiracy theorist yet? If I do, why?

I personally don’t believe that this past Christmas was the last one that we’ll see. But I know this much, I’m going to be watching for signs that I might be wrong...

Bible Verses: Matthew 24: 3-8, John 14: 5-7

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there wil be famines, pestilences, and earthquake in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." -Mat 24: 3-8

Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." - Jhn 14:5-7 NKJV

I had this entire post written I was about to push the publish button when I read an article which I think is pertinent to what has been said here. In this article, Charisma magazine asks why so many people believe PF to be the Anti-Christ (or, maybe the False Prophet of the book of Revelation). While this is not entirely what this post was about, I believe that it is related because of the whole "End Times" portion. Please read the linked article (which I think is fair in its opinion) and let it sink in. What thoughts do you have on this? If PF isn't the Anti-Christ (I'm not going to go so far as to say that), are his statements overreaching? I'd love to hear your thoughts.