Antichrist Superstar (What's Wrong with the World)

Antichrist Superstar

by Edward Feser

Here is a piece from Fr. George Rutler in today's National Review Online.

Posted by Edward Feser on November 4, 2008 11:36 AM | Del.icio.us | Permalink

Comments (13)

I remember reading that story a few years ago. It is a bit uncannny, much in the same way as Brave New World. However, I will really start worrying when our Pontiff takes the name Peter II.

Posted by c matt | November 4, 2008 12:19 PM

c matt:

However, I will really start worrying when our Pontiff takes the name Peter II.

I haven't heard that myth since childhood.

I thought that myth was dispelled long ago since no future pontiff can ever take the name of "Peter" as it has been reserved out of deep & profound respect for Peter himself.

Posted by aristocles | November 4, 2008 12:30 PM

I am sure it is just a myth, and I would be surprised if any Pontiff did take the name. Hence, if they did, it would be a real shocker.

Posted by c matt | November 4, 2008 3:23 PM

c matt,

Do you know what exactly was the source of that myth?

I only heard it largely by hearsay as a kid.

To this day, I've yet to find out where this all came from.

Would you happen to know?

Posted by aristocles | November 4, 2008 3:25 PM

I wish I knew, but I kind of picked it up like you did - hearsay upon hearsay upon hearsay. I wonder if it somehow got started with that alleged list of popes from St. Malachi or something like that.

Posted by c matt | November 4, 2008 4:21 PM

"I am sure it is just a myth, and I would be surprised if any Pontiff did take the name. Hence, if they did, it would be a real shocker."

Of course, you could have a guy who's real name was Peter, like the apostle Peter.

Posted by The Deuce | November 4, 2008 5:41 PM

Ed,
Father Rutler, a great priest, orator and writer is right to draw our attention to Benson's classic Lord of the World. Liberalism is a political religion and perverse parody of Christianity. Yet, his rather recondite article is way off, if he means to suggest the messianic aura and aims of Obama are proof he's the Anti-Christ. Please, he's a very able politician, well-suited to draw the lonely, alienated souls of the TV age temporarily to his side. But, the Anti-Christ?

Obama was not elected by acclamation. There are Constitutional and cultural impediments to total rule and his electoral alliance is as precarious as any ever cobbled together. The stress of economic and social divergence will disperse many in the crowd.

Many of Obama's policies are, like the spirit of this age; anti-Christian. We have it on higher authority though, the Church will face a far more universally appealing and daunting foe than a charismatic, but transparently flawed member of our failing political class. We'll wish for an adversary of Obama's ilk.

Rutler's essay was uncharacteristically naive and exaggerated, and certainly not typical of him.

Posted by Kevin | November 4, 2008 11:32 PM

Kevin,

I think it unlikely that Fr. Rutler meant to imply that Obama is the Antichrist. What he meant, surely, is that the moral and philosophical outlook Benson (and not just Benson, BTW) ascribes to the Antichrist and his following is eerily similar to the sort of worldview that characterizes early 21st century progressivism, and that Obama, who is now the leader of the progressive cause, also has personal traits that Benson (and, again, not just Benson) ascribes to the Antichrist. And all of that is, I submit, hard to deny.

That leaves it open, of course, whether the conception of the Antichrist Benson and others put forward is the correct one; and it certainly doesn't follow that Obama is the Antichrist, any more than Nero, Muhammad, Napoleon, Hitler, or other historic personages who were Antichrist-like could be identified with the Antichrist.

Obviously, even this much is bound to sound sensationalistic, crackpot, and worse to most people these days. What is undeniable, however, is that Obama and his ilk are indeed "anti-" the moral and theological worldview that Christianity has historically been associated with. A St. John, St. Augustine, or St. Thomas Aquinas made acquainted with Obama's views and character and informed that he would be the leader of the most powerful nation in the world would hardly find Rutler's observations implausible.

Posted by Edward Feser | November 5, 2008 12:04 AM

Ed,
I still think he was clumsy and the truth would have been better served if Father Rutler clearly said the spirit of the Anti-Christ is gaining greater force and Obama's election is a sympton of our spiritual decay.

Posted by Kevin | November 5, 2008 6:43 AM

Kevin,

If you really want to know who is the Anti-Christ, take heed of this from some Scotist friends:

Here is a foretaste, a story related by Alexander Neckham in De naturis rerum. Harclay does not give a refutation of this view.
p. 63 of Henninger's ed. and transl.: "We should also look at the remarkable story Alexander Neckham tells in the second book of On the Nature of Things, in the chapter called 'On the Jealous'. It concerns the evidence for Antichrist's coming. He writes that Aristotle, the Philosopher, when about to go the way of all flesh, gave instructions that all of his subtlest writings were to be placed with him in his tomb, so that they could be of no use ot those who came after him. When he was alive, he fortified a place for his tomb with his own hands so that to this day no one has been able to enter it. This place, Neckham writes, will be given over to Antichrist when he comes. Antichrist, then, will work wonders by means of the cunning inventions to be found in Aristotle's writings, so much so that the folish will take him for God. At that time, if anyone were to know where Aristotle's tomb was and were to see it lying open, that person could (if this story is true) argue that Antichrist had come."

Posted by aristocles | November 5, 2008 1:21 PM

c. matt et al:
The title Peter II is traceable to the "Prophecies of St. Malachy". This is a purported list of brief descriptors of the popes until the end of time. I believe TAN may still keep a slim paperback version in print. According to Malachy, a real Irish saint by the way, John Paul I was "in medio luna" literally in the middle of the moon. He is thought to have fulfilled tbe prophecy by reigning for less than a month. John Paul II would have been "Laborem solis" - the labor of the sun. His many travels, everywhere under the sun, are said to have fulfilled this title. Benedict XVI is "gloria olivae" - the glory of the olive. Since there is an branch of the Benedictines who are known as the 'Olivetans'. Ratzinger's choice of name is seen by some as fulfillment of this title but perhaps he may do other things in the service of peace that might further fulfill it. The last title is "Petrus Romanus" - Peter the Roman. Some have thought this pope will take the name of Peter, others that his baptismal name will be Peter.
As you can tell I know more than is good for me. To be honest, I don't put much stock in it all but it is an interesting hobby.
PAX,
Matthew

Posted by Matthew | November 5, 2008 3:38 PM

@Matthew.

TAN Books: Yves Dupont - The Coming Chastisement right? I loved this little book! Contrary to what some may believe, these sorts of prophecies can be a great source of hope and other good things -- else why would saints make them? Consider that they never end in "and then the gates of hell will prevail against the Church." I read the book 10 years ago but I remember being impressed by one particular 13th[?] century prophecy of St. Malachi's:

There will be a century in which paintings seem to move and ships swim underwater. There will be much reading and writing, but little charity.

At least I think Dupont had it that way in his book. And a lot of it is consistent with Mark Fellow's Fatima in Twilight and Ferrara's The Secret Still Hidden about the Italian journalist Antonio Socci and the third secret.

Posted by andrew | November 8, 2008 4:11 AM

Jesus Christ has raised me from the dead!

I have found you!

I am in the process of attempting to respond to the first 1000 results in a google search for 'Peter the Roman', the final pontiff in the St. Malachy prophecies. Total results are over 3 million. Yet, the prophecy given in 1139 A.D. was in virtual obscurity for over 400 years
until the invention of the printing press. In the computer age there has been a resurgence in the interest of the list of names.

As Jesus Christ spoke of not rejoicing that the spirits are subject to us, but that our names are written in heaven, and the fact that Jesus Christ has raised me from the dead to the office of 'Peter the Roman', I hold that the list of names in the St. Malachy prophecies are akin to, if not exactly, those very names written in heaven.

Even Nostradamus spoke of 'Peter the Roman' in Century VII, #24.

The use of 'the strong one' in the quatrain also refers to Daniel 7:7.

Jesus Christ's resurrecting me is in His fulfillment of an agreement of contract law (Matthew 3:15) into which both He and I entered prior to my baptising Him.

Whatswrongwiththeworld is in the 201-300 page of results.

I am pleased to meet you.

Please feel free to respond.

The reality of the future is not totally revealed to us, it is written, "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard of the wonders God has in store for us."

As Christ had sent me to bear him witness, I now bear witness that HEAVEN IS GREAT!!!

The world is saved through the Blessed Virgin Mary's Brown Scapular and Rosary as prophesied.

I normally use my Christian surname, Edward Palamar, but I remain:
the resurrected John,
Prophet of the Most High,
whom Jesus Christ called the "Elias who was to come.",
St. John the Baptist,
enjoying the rapture in the call of duty as Peter the Roman
__________

The regular problem I find in explaining what is plain to me (private revelation) is that some others regard what I say as a claim, as if they are holding something of mine (as a cloak check) that I need to present proof in order to regain that something of mine. For anyone to be this way indicates they indeed do have or think they have something of mine, else they wouldn't try to barter as such. Christ himself said, "An evil and wicked generation demands a sign." In that regard, I could just as well keep my mouth shut. But I do rejoice.

I trust Jesus as God to know the better of His plans, especially when it comes to putting spirit in and out of men. Is not our breath the breath of God? I think so. Christ also said, "If you are prepared to receive it, he (John [the Baptist]) was the Elijah who was to come." I
don't think I was prepared to recieve it, but am capable now of understanding that.

God once took a man to heaven bodily, the prophet Elijah. As God appeared to Moses in the burning bush because to see God's glory directly would have caused Moses to die, something happened to Elijah to prevent him from suffering a similar fate for many years even though it is recorded that he went to heaven in a whirlwind. Any time beyond 120 years would have been the normal end for Elijah. It was part of God's plan to bring Elijah back in spirit.

The spirit of Elijah was put back into corruptable flesh and God had created a living soul. The Father in heaven via the angel Gabriel and Zachary gave the name "John" to that particular living soul. "John" was not given a seperate breath but that of Elijah.

Christ died to save souls. So when Christ raises that soul of "John", "John" is given a new course of both body and spirit, making "John" a living soul again.

In essence, I have been given a free ride. But such is the existence of any creature of God. "God blesses and curses whom He pleases."

All living souls owe their existences to God, the Giver of Life. It is God who makes their souls alive. It is God's prerogative to name and apportion spirit as He sees proper.

Tertian Harmony and Chord Manual at :
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Tertian_Harmony/
Some recorded piano solos at :
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=845707

Posted by Edward Palamar | February 4, 2010 11:35 PM

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