False Prophets Abound in Turbulent Times

Some of them are non-Christian, and appeal to people who are seeking any signs but the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Some of them come from Christians who, cut off from the Magisterium, have invented their own Magisterium compounded of End Times theories, guilty feelings about the Holocaust, and cranky theories about the State of Israel as a fulfilment of “biblical prophecy” that have no standing whatever in the Tradition, but are *highly* amenable to certain political groups:

Prophetic Insights in Turbulent Times – What does it mean for Americans?

Jonathan Schanzer, former U.S. White House Counterterrorism Analyst to Speak at The Friends of Israel Prophecy Conference at Winona Lake, Indiana July 26 -31

Bellmawr, NJ – The Friends of Israel is holding their 12th annual Prophecy Conference at the Rodeheaver Auditorium at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana July 26 – 31, 2009.

The Friends of Israel’s Executive Director, Bill Sutter, states, “We know that Americans are anxious about world events that are taking place and what that means for us here at home, as well as for our brothers and sisters around the globe. We are very pleased that Jonathan Schanzer will be joining us for our ‘Honor Israel Night’ on Tuesday, July 28, at 6:30 p.m.”

Prophetic insights will be dissected and related to biblical accounts to discover how the prophecies relate to current U.S. and world events.

Experts on biblical prophecy will be speaking including Bill Sutter, Executive Director; Jim Showers, Vice President; David Levy, Director of International Ministries; Steve Herzig, Director of North American Ministries among others from The Friends of Israel. Pastor Meno Kalisher from the Jerusalem Assembly will be providing updates from Israel.

There is a children’s program during all sessions and the conference is free. For more details call The Friends of Israel at 1-800-257-7843, and ask for Lisa Grosso at extension 139 between 8:30a.m. and 4:30 p.m. EDT, or visit the Web site at www.foi.org.

One can support the state of Israel to one’s heart’s content as a secular political theory. I do. However, the moment you start claiming to be able to divine the hand of God and the fulfillment of prophecy in the secular state of Israel is the moment you are beginning to elevate a mere human tradition to the level of Sacred Tradition. You can hold the notion that Israel is the fulfillment of prophecy as a private (albeit dangerous and completely unsubstantiated) opinion just as (if it comes to it) you can have a private opinion that crop circles forecast the Second Coming.

But groups like Friends of Israel don’t treat it as a private opinion. They treat it as obvious, revealed by God Almighty, and as a basis for broad political action that can (and has) gotten quite a number of people killed.

Of course, folks like this don’t have access to the Magisterium and so often are acting in good faith on the basis of bad information. They have an excuse. We Catholics do not. If we encourage people to elevate mere human opinion to the level of Sacred Tradition, we shall be held accountable for it. No Catholic in his five wits would say that some loopy New Age Catholic should go about trumpeting that Mayan crop circles were fulfilments of biblical prophecy and expecting that every Catholic believe this or risk the wrath of God. But lots of Catholics have no problem with the not-a-few in our ranks who routinely buy into Protestant theories about Israel as the fulfilment of biblical prophecy. Of the two crank theories, only one stands a decent chance of sparking a war that will kill millions, and it ain’t the crop circles.