3rd Sunday of Advent - True Messiah vs False Messiah

 

In the Gospel today, John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus to ask Our Lord if “He is the one who is to come”, in another words, “Is He the Messiah?”. In response, Jesus declares Himself the Messiah by giving proofs when He speaks about the miracles He performed.

What does Messiah mean? In Judaism, the expected king of the Davidic line would deliver Israel from foreign bondage and restore the glories of its golden age. The Jews during the time of Jesus mistakenly thought the messiah would be their military ruler and free them from Roman oppression. However, scriptures do not proclaim the Messiah as the leader of an army. The Jews also thought the Messiah would come to bring about lasting peace, which is true. The proper understanding of the messiah is that he is the anointed one, who restores man’s relationship with God, that was broken due to Adam and Eve’s original sin. The messiah specifically is referred to the coming of one who would usher in a period of righteousness and conquer sin and evil (Daniel 9:26).

Many Jews believed the Messiah would heal the sick, the blind and the lame. Therefore, the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah, in the first reading today, foresees the Messiah as healing the sick.

In the Gospel today, Jesus proclaimed Himself the Messiah by telling the disciples of John the Baptist, “the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” By Jesus adding “the dead are raised”, He revealed He is also God.

As God, He can forgive sins, which is what He told the adulterous woman and the paralytic that their sins are forgiven.

What if someone would claim to be the Messiah or a messenger from God today? Bishop Fulton Sheen indicated there are three ways we can know only Jesus is the Messiah. The first way is what we see in the today’s Gospel. The Messiah will be able to work miracles of physical healing (healing the blind, cleansing lepers, the deaf to hear, raising the dead).

Every time a saint is canonized, its due to a miracle that God performed through the intercession of a saint and is investigated and proven to be true by the Church. For example, Floribeth Mora Diaz, who had a brain aneurysm was told she would die soon, but after watching the beatification of Pope John Paul II, she had a dream where the pope told her, “Get up! Don’t be afraid.” and she was instantly healed. Fr. Ron Pytel suffered from a constricted aortic valve and was miraculously healed after venerating a relic of blessed Faustina, which led to her canonization. Marcilio Andrino from Brazil was healed of a brain infection with abscesses after venerating a relic of blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and that miracle caused her to be canonized.

All of these miracles are attributed to God, through the intercession of the saints.

The second way we know Jesus is the Messiah, is that the morality Jesus declares does not contradict human reason. In another words human reason tells us it is wrong to kill an innocent person, but a false Messiah may something like, its acceptable to kill an unborn baby.

The third way we can know Jesus is the Messiah is He fulfills all 456 prophecies of the Old Testament. Bishop Fulton Sheen said, “What is the probability of anyone fulfilling all 456 prophecies of the Old Testament that refer to the Messiah? To fulfill 4 of the 456 prophecies is 1 in 100,000. However, Jesus fulfills all 456 prophecies. Bishop Fulton Sheen said, the chance of fulfilling all 456 prophecies 1 with 184 zeros.” There are 12 zeros in a trillion, but Bishop Sheen said 184 zeros is incalculable.

Here are a few of the Old Testament prophecies Jesus fulfilled: The prophet Micah who said He would be born in Bethlehem. The prophet Isaiah 7:14 said He would be born of a virgin. 2^nd Samuel 7:12-13 states: He would be a descendant of David and sit on his royal throne. Isaiah 7:14 said He would be called Emmanuel. Hosea 11:1: He will spend time in Egypt. Malachi: His way would be prepared by Elijah the prophet who would be John the Baptist. Psalm 110:4 He would be a priest in the order of Melchizedek. Zechariah 11:12: He would enter Jerusalem on a donkey. Psalm 22:16 His hands and feet would be pierced, He would be mocked 7-8 and His garments would be divided by soldiers 18. Psalm 69:21 He would be given vinegar to drink. Psalm 16:10 He would resurrect from the dead. Isaiah 54:5-12: He would be a sacrifice for sin. Daniel 7:13-14 He will return a second time.

No past, so called messenger of God, nor any future messenger of God are able predict in advance where that false messenger he will be born, or how and where he will die. Jesus Himself predicted His rejection, suffering, death and resurrection. “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise." (Mark 9:31)

Only Jesus said He wants an intimate and personal relationship with Him and to love Him. He said, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love.”

No one, but Jesus would tell His followers to eat His flesh and drink His blood and if they do, and will inherit eternal life and will be raised on the last day. (John 6:54)

The false messiah who will be the Antichrist can not fulfill all 456 prophecies. There are 16 things about the Antichrist that reveal who he is. 1. He is not the devil incarnate. Only God can take on human nature. However, he will be controlled by Satan through diabolical possession. 2. He will declare himself the messiah. 3. He will be Jewish and his mother will be Jewish (LaSallete). 4. He will conquer enemies & reign over the world for 3 ½ years. 5. He will declare Jerusalem the capital of the world. 6. Claim to be God & worshiped (2Thess 2:4) 7. Have Statues of himself set up for people to worship 8. He will persecute Christians (Rev. 13:7) (The Great Persecution). 9. He will abolish the Mass (Dan. 12:11) 10. He will start a new religion and create a false church (Catherine Emmerich) 11. He will be be extremely intelligent, and will have eloquence, and posses perfect knowledge of every art and science, and know all scriptures. (History of the Anti-Christ) 12. He will work false wonders (2 Thess 2:9-10) such as calling down fire from heaven and cast out demons. He will supposedly die and come back to life, but he will not have really died. (Rev. 13:12). He will appear to heal the sick, but they will be false miracles. 13. He will control the World Economy – “Also, it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.” (Rev. 13:16-17). 14. He will kill Enoch and Elijah who the book of Revelation call the two witnesses. They will return as prophets to confront the Anti-Christ. (Rev. 11:8). 15. The Antichrist will be destroyed by Jesus at His Second Coming. 16. The Antichrist’s number is 666. Letters of alphabet are 666 when translated. Nero was like an Antichrist his number was 666.

According to the book, History of the Antichrist by Rev. P Huchede, pg. 24) written in 1884, a professor of the Theology at the Grand Seminary Laval, France, the Antichrist will be preceded by the false prophet. “The Antichrist adores Satan and the false prophet glorifies the Antichrist. The false prophet will not be a king nor a general of an army but a clever apostate, fallen from the episcopal dignity. (my understanding of what this means is that the person will be a bishop or cardinal, who someone like that, who will lose their faith by apostatizing and will in turn lead others to the Anti-Christ). For being an apostle of the Gospel he will become the first preacher of the false messiah. The Antichrist will communicate his power of working miracles to others, who will go into different countries and cities to gain new proselytes by human and diabolic means in the power. There shall rise up false christs and false prophets and they shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it were possible the elect. They will blaspheme the majesty of God and despise all true authority.”

So if someone were to claim to be the Messiah today, we could easily tell he isn’t. Fulton Sheen says this about the Antichrist (the false messiah). He said, “the Antichrist will not be called the Antichrist or no one would follow him. He will be disguised as a humanitarian (to help the poor), one who will talk peace, prosperity, and plenty, not as means to lead us to God, but as ends in themselves. He will write books on the new idea of God to suit the way people live. He will identify tolerance with indifference to right and wrong. He will even speak of Christ and say that he was the greatest man who ever lived, (but not speak of Him as God). He will explain guilt away psychologically. He will foster more divorces under the disguise that another partner is “vital.”

I’m telling you this because there is a man in Jerusalem who some of the Jews claim, he is the messiah. He is extremely intelligent. He knew all scriptures by heart and the Talmud by the age of 15. He has worked false miracles. These fake miracles are not attributed to God, but rather to this man. As I mentioned the future false messiah, the Anti-Christ is known for 16 things. At this time, the man is said to have 4 of them. 1. He’s Jewish. 2. Jews are claiming he is the messiah 3. He is attributed 5 fake miracles and 4. He is extremely intelligent. He lacks 12 other features that would make him known as the false messiah (the anti-Christ). Attached to the bulletin are 45 out of 456 prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. You can look them up in scripture. Also attached is the list of 16 points the false messiah needs to be declared the Anti-Christ.

My friends, if these things were to happen in our life time, we will reject every messiah because we believe Jesus is the only and true Messiah. We reject anyone who works false miracles attributed to himself, rather than God. We would reject any new and false church that does away with Catholic teachings, Her tradition, Her dogmas.

Rather, we will believe what has been passed down to us over the last 2000 years. Jesus is the one and only Messiah. He who is both God and man. He fulfilled all 456 prophecies of the Old Testament. Only Jesus can save us from our sins.

The point of today’s readings and Gospel is this: Jesus is the Messiah. When Jesus comes on the clouds of heaven, only Jesus can and will bring about a lasting peace, when He comes a second time, and then the world will be transformed and made new, and all will receive a resurrected body like His, at the end of the world.

Today, let us rejoice that Jesus is the Messiah, that Jesus is God, who has come to save us from our sins, lead all to righteousness and restore mankind back to God.

And let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Messiah, the Mother of God, and our Mother, to pray for us, that we may help all to come to have a personal and intimate relationship with Her Son, who loves us so much, that He laid down His life for us, that we may have life with Him forever in heaven.