The Second Coming of Christ.       The Liturgical Year of the Church comes to a close Sat. Nov. 26, 2022, and a new liturgical year begins with the first Sunday of Advent on Sun. Nov. 27th. At this time of year the Biblical readings at Mass tend to focus on the end times – where is history headed, what is the culmination.       This theme is a fitting ending to our series of articles on what Jesus and the Bible have to say about how we are to live in this world, so today’s last article of that series explores what the second coming of Jesus Christ is all about.       We’ve already discussed the “antichrist,” the “man of lawlessness,” who will exalt himself and proclaim himself to be God ( 2 Thes 2:2-4 ). He comes first before Christ returns. He will be given great power ( Rev 13:2 ) and practically the whole world will go to war against God ( Dan 7:25 . Rev 13:6 ; Ps 2 ). From the Bible, it appears the antichrist will not ...

  The Antichrist's Deception.       Continuing our series on what Jesus and the Bible have to say about living in this world, today we take a second look at the Biblical term, “antichrist.” Previously we looked at St. John’s expression of “many antichrists” which have come, and he also speaks of “the” antichrist as an individual figure who is still to come (e.g., 1 Jn 2:18 ).       In St. John’s second letter he refers to the antichrist as “the deceiver.” He writes, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist” ( 2 Jn 7 ). So “the deceiver” is another name for the antichrist. St. John says we can know him by his denial that Jesus Christ is God incarnate – God who assumed our human flesh.       Christ uses similar language when He warns us to beware of false Christs. “Many will come in my name sa...

Life in This World: You Will Be Hated. Last week we looked at what Jesus and the Bible tells us about how live in the here and now – which is to live only in Christ, abiding in Him. The Bible has still more to say on this. Jesus tells us that we, though living now in this world, are actually no more of the world, just like He, when He walked the Earth, was not of this world ( Jn 17:16 ; cf. 17:20 ). Yet Christ has no intention of removing us from the world but intercedes for us that we be protected from the devil ( Jn 17:14-16 ; Mt 6:13 ).  So He does want us in this world. There’s no mistake. We’re supposed to be here. In fact, Christ has sent us into the world ( Jn 17:18 ). He wants us to be consecrated in truth ( Jn 17:19 ), to bear witness to the truth ( 1 Jn 4:14-15 ), and to preach the Gospel ( Mk 14:9 , 16:15 ). At the same time we must guard ourselves from getting contaminated by the world ( Jas 1:27 ), must not love the world ( 1 Jn 2:15 ), nor model ourselves on t...