THERE are those who maintain that the prophesied Antichrist, as against the smaller antichrists that have come and gone through world history, will not be around until about the end of the world. They believe that the Antichrist does not belong to our time since credible mystics are saying that we are facing the end of an era (or "the world as we know it"), and not the world's end.
Not so, according to the same mystics, including Maria Valtorta whose credibility is grounded on the assessment of both theology and science experts.
Before I share with readers what she wrote about the Antichrist, quoting no less than Jesus Christ, let me again cite respected personalities on their views of Valtorta and her work which used to be known as Poem of the Man-God.
Archbishop Alfonso Carinci, secretary of the Congregation of the Sacred Rites (1946): “ There is nothing therein which is contrary to the Gospel. Rather, this work, a good complement to the Gospel, contributes towards a better understanding of its meaning.”
Fr. Dreyfus, of the French Biblical and Archeological School, Jerusalem (1986): “I was greatly impressed on finding in Maria Valtorta’s work the names of at least six or seven towns, which are absent from the Old and New Testaments. These names are known but to a few specialists, and through non-biblical sources... Now, how could she have known these names, if not through the revelations she claims that she had?”
Author John Haffert (1995) : “I have the 10 volumes of The Poem of the Man-God in Italian and French. It is the most wonderful work I have ever read and I consider it a blessing of God. I’m in my seventies. And in my entire life, among all the books I’ve read, The Poem of the Man-God is the one that has done me the most good in my spiritual life.”
Msgr. Ugo Lattanzi, dean of the Faculty of Theology of the Lateran Pontifical University, adviser to the Holy Office (1951): “The author could not have written such an abundant amount of material without being under the influence of a supernatural power.”
And now on the Antichrist based on Valtorta's quote of Our Lord Jesus Christ and who, according to our modern-day mystics, is to appear in our days. Valtorta's quote of Our Lord:
"He will be a person with a very high position, he will be like a bright star, not like a human star that shines in the human sky, but a star from a supernatural sphere, who, giving in to the flattery of the enemy...
"...he will become haughty and proud after having been humble, he will become an atheist after having had great faith, he will become lustful after having been chaste, he will hunger for gold after having known evangelical poverty, he will thirst for recognition after having lived a hidden life...
"It is less frightening to see a star fall to earth from the sky than to see this chosen, preordained creature fall into the clutches of satan, which, Lucifer, on account of his haughty pride became the dark, damned one; the antichrist, for his haughty pride of one hour will become the dark damned one after having been a shining star in my ranks...
" The sinister work of the antichrist will cause grave damage above all within the Church, whose members will be shaken in their faith, contaminated by the apostasy, while in the world satanism will spread...
"...in reward for his abjuration, which will make the heavens shudder with horror, and the columns of My Church will tremble appalled, he will obtain all help from satan who will give him now the keys to the well of the infernal abyss so that he shall open it. But it shall be opened wide so that all the instruments of horror may pour forth, which satan has fabricated in the course of millennia in order to bring men to utter desperation--and in such a manner that they invoke satan as king and run to follow the antichrist, who is the only one who can open the gates of hell so as to free the king of hell; thus aping the manner in which Christ opened the gates of heaven in order to free grace and forgiveness...
"The fascinating charm of the antichrist will be such as to seduce those fragile in faith but he will also attract those who are the enemies of Christ-- who will recognize in him their leader. As the Father gave to Me every power, so satan will give to him all power of seduction in order to pull the weak ones into his wake, the corrupt ones, corroded by fevers of ambition like their leader. But his unrestrainable ambition...
"...will find insufficient the supernatural help of satan and so he will look for more help from the enemies of Christ, who are armed with ever deadlier weapons [...?] which spur the masses to greater desperation, and they will help him....
"When the time comes, many luminaries will be struck down by the darkness of Lucifer who, in order to win, must diminish the light that is within souls. This will be able to take place because not only the laity but also the clergy will have lost, and continues to lose, the solid grounding of faith, charity, strength, purity, of being detached from the seduction of the things of this world which is necessary in order to remain in the orbit of the light of God....
"Understand who are the bright stars about whom I speak. They are those whom I described as the salt of the earth and the light of the world, my ministers. The pointed study of satan's maliciousness is to put out these lights, overwhelming them, these luminaries who are the reflected light of my light.... If, notwithstanding the still great amount of light that the priestly Church emits, souls are still falling deeper in darkness, we can intuit the measure of darkness which will crush the masses when many stars in the heavens shall go out....
"...Satan knows this and so sows his seeds in order to prepare the weakness of the priest in order to overwhelm him easily with sins, not so much of the senses as sins of thought. In mental chaos, it will be easier for satan to provoke a spiritual chaos. In spiritual chaos, the weak ones, facing .... persecution, will commit the sin of cowardice, denying their faith". (To be continued in the next column.)