Love Even Now

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The Ephesus Challenge takes its name from Christ's letter to the church at Ephesus. He praised that church for its hard work, its endurance and its testing of false apostles, and then said: “Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first” (Revelation 2:4). Then comes the challenge: “Repent, and do the works you did at first” (Revelation 2:5). A Christian can be right about the beast, and about many things in the faith, and still lose his soul if he loses love.

Toward the man himself

St. John writes: “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus we know this is the last hour” (1 John 2:18). How do we recognize him? “Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist” (1 John 2:22).

We do not pray for Satan or the demons; their choice against God is final (CCC 393). Nor do we pray for the one whom God knows and Scripture reveals as the Antichrist, for his end is already told: he is “the one doomed to perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3), and the beast is thrown alive into the fiery pool (Revelation 19:20). Even he, Fr. Arminjon teaches following the theologian Suarez, will not be deprived of his guardian angel or of sufficient grace; he will refuse it (The End of the Present World, p. 43). Suarez judged it likely that he would be so habituated to evil, and so bound to the devil, “that he will scarcely ever have regard for a good inspiration, the spiritual action of the guardian angels, or God’s grace” (quoted by Arminjon, p. 43, n. 12). Scarcely ever: even there, the door is God’s to close, not ours. But we do not yet know who he is, and judgment of any soul belongs to God alone (CCC 1861). So in practice we pray for everyone, as St. Paul asks, “for kings and for all in authority” (1 Timothy 2:1–2), and as the Lord commands: “love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Mockery, hatred and contempt have no place here; they are the beast's language, not the Lamb's.

And let me say plainly: nothing on this site invites anyone to act against him or anyone else. The fate of the beast is in God's hands alone (Revelation 19:20). Our weapons are prayer, truth, charity and faith.

Toward those who follow him

Many of my brothers and sisters in the faith admire people I do not, and vote for them in good conscience. Many of them live more virtuous lives than I do. They are not marked. No one bears the mark of the beast for a vote, an opinion or a political loyalty. The mark is the worship that belongs to God alone, given to the beast, and freely chosen. If my reading is right, the time may come when that choice is put to them, and to all of us. When it does, I want for them what I want for myself: the grace of God to persevere in the faith.

Speak to those you disagree with as friends. Listen. Do not quarrel; reason gently. Never let a disagreement about these chapters break the bond of charity.

Toward those who think I am wrong

Many faithful Catholics, priests and scholars among them, will think my reading mistaken. They may be right. The Church has not spoken on it, and I have graded it possible, not settled. On apocalypse13.org my proposal is weighed beside others by the same standards, and I want it tested. If the evidence goes against it, I will say so.

To those who disagree with me: thank you for keeping me honest. Let us keep watch together and pray as one. Whatever the coming years bring, we are all children of God, made in his image and likeness, and we must make this pilgrimage together.

Love is the readiness

In the end, love is the best preparation for the trial. The one who loves God will not worship another. The one who loves his neighbor will not take a mark that tramples on his neighbor. And “there is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18).

“So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

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