ICON by Georgia Briggs Christian Book Review

ICON by George Briggs

ICON
Georgia Briggs, author
Chesterton IN: Ancient Faith Publishing, 2017
205 pages

ISBN: 978-1-944967-19-2
List price: 14.95
Formats: Paperback, E-book, Kindle, Nook and i-book.
LINK to Buy: Store.AncientFaith.com

A review by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com.

Summary from the Book Cover
In a post-Christian America, where going to church, praying, or owning holy things means death, a twelve-year-old girl searches for the truth.  Finding it may cost her everything.

The Story
The End Times have begun and the year is 0000 ET.  Euphrosyne and her family live their lives in the Orthodox Christian tradition.  One horrible night everything changes for Euphrosyne when the Matthews' house is broken into and all but her are shot to death.  Even the family dog is killed. 

Christians are being murdered in the United States of America for their intolerance by enforcers of the new tolerant secular society.  When Euphrosyne is found, after being miraculously being saved from death by an icon of St. Nicholas while running for her life in the woods, her name is changed to Hillary and she is sent to live with her grandparents.  

In the End Times people are watched for any sign of not complying with tolerant rules.  There is a children's wing in the Department of Religious Tolerance where non-compliant juveniles are brought to be starved, tortured

ICON by Georgia Briggs
Store.AncientFaith.com

and brainwashed into right thought.  Euphrosyne prays the Jesus Prayer when like other children there she is left in complete darkness in a little glass-enclosed cell with a hole in the floor for a toilet.  Hillary, however, remains firm in her faith.

Thoughts of the Reviewer
This is a violent, scary book.  Written for young adults, I recommend to parents and leaders to exercise real caution when recommending and having young people read it.  

ICON has the potential putting fear in the minds and hearts of readers who do not believe that ultimately good will triumph. 

In a good sense, it may encourage readers to stand firm in their faith as Euphrosyne did, believe their relationship with Jesus Christ is worth the cost.

Lastly, there is a plausible correlation between this story and the attitudes and behaviors of many who are being are driven by evil forces to hate Christianity and do whatever it takes to turn the God of Love into a tyrant to be destroyed and removed from American society.

Orthodox Christians do not teach or promote what is called the Rapture.  Here is an End Times book from the Eastern Orthodox perspective.  Icon is a fast read.  Unless the reader intends to share the book and/or doesn't mind reading from the computer I recommend buying the e-book. 

Prophecy for Today Summary of the Catholic Tradition Concerning the End of Time Era Edward Connor Book Review

Prophecy for Today
by Edward Connor

Prophecy for Today

A Summary of the Catholic Tradition 

Concerning the End-of-Time Era

Edward Connor, author

Charlotte: TAN Books, 2013

Reprint Edition

Printed in the United States of America

Nihil obstat. Imprimatur.

viii, 134 pages

4.25 x 7 inches

List price: $8.95

Reviewed by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com. 

Publisher Description (from the publisher: TAN Books)    The best introduction to Catholic prophecy in print. Covers the Great Catholic Monarch who will rule the entire world, the Angelic Pastor (a Holy Pope who will convert the world), the period of peace and prosperity, the Antichrist, etc., all taken from the prophecies of many Saints down through the centuries. It is amazing how they coalesce upon this epoch, which seems to be immediately before us. Brief, comprehensive and enthralling!

My Summary

     Prophecy for Today offers quotes and selections from Roman Catholics throughout the centuries whose eschatological prophecies have been put forth for examination.  Included are prophetic words that have been proven wrong.  The one thing that I find lacking in the book is that at the outset I would like to have had included the Roman Catholic position on the endtimes in relation to the various millennial positions that were active at the time of first publication as well as today.

The Roman Catholic Teaching on What Is Called the Rapture

Quote  

Scripture: 1Thessalonians 4:17 ; Additional Scripture: Matthew 24: 29-31. LINK to Source: The Catholic Company

     The word “rapture” comes from the Latin word meaning “to be caught up” or “taken up”. This refers to the passage in St. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians 4:17 which states, “then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.”
      The Catholic understanding of this passage is that those believers who are alive during Christ’s second coming will not experience death, but rather, will be gloriously transformed and join the saints already with Christ. Nowhere in 1 Thessalonians does St. Paul teach a secret coming of Christ. Furthermore, St. Paul states that Christ’s coming will be announced by the cry of an archangel and by a trumpet blast. St. Paul is describing the resurrection of the dead that will take place at Christ’s second coming. It appears, when reading 1 Thessalonians that Christians at the time were worried that those who died before Christ’s second coming would not share in His triumphant return. Paul assures them that when the time comes, they will join the resurrected to meet the Lord and will share in Christ’s triumphant descent from heaven to earth.

Contents

1 Prophecy

2 The Prophecy of St. Malachy

3 The Secrets of LaSalette and Fatima

4 The Earthly Scourge, the Heavenly Scourge and the Three Days Darkness

5 The Great Monarch and the Angelic Pastor

6 Spiritual Aids in Times of Distress

7 The Gospel and the End of the World

8 Signs Before the End of the World

9 The Antichrist in Scripture

10 The Antichrist in Other Sources

11 Extraordinary Disturbances in Nature

12 The Apocalypse

13 The Last Judgment

Appendix A: The Complete Prophecy of Saint Malachy

Appendix B: Apparitions Since Fatima

Appendix C: Can the Devil Raise the Dead?

Bibliography

About TAN Books

TAN Books (from their website): TAN Books was founded in 1967. Since its founding, it has been committed to the preservation and promotion of the spiritual, theological and liturgical traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. TAN Books publishes over 500 titles on Thomistic theology, traditional devotions, Church doctrine, history, lives of the saints, educational resources, and more.

THE PROPHETIC ENSIGN Vol 24 No 3 1964 Arthur E Bloomfield

The Prophetic Ensign, edited and published by Arthur E. Bloomfield
Volume 24, No. 3. July - August - September 1964.

The Prophetic Ensign

Volume 24 Number 3 (July – September 1964)
Arthur E. Bloomfield, editor & publisher

This article prepared by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com.

 

   Previous to our present time when so much information is now generated and transferred around the world electronically, the best and most inexpensive way to get one’s subject matter out was through mailed media and if local via the telephone.  Postcards, fliers and pamphlets to which one subscribed were sent out to interested parties and read, then passed around to others of like mind who often would then subscribe themselves.

   In 1964, a subscription to The Prophetic Ensign cost one dollar annually, or 25 cents a copy.  Now even in 1964, publisher Arthur Bloomfield could not have been making much of a profit or any at all on his quarter compensation. 

 

   This writing is negative with commentary that includes blatant racism.  Without condoning the author's beliefs, especially when exhibited within a Christian context, such racism was not all that uncommon in the 1960s.  That our country has progressed in respecting the rights of all citizens is due in part to the great efforts put forth during this decade.  

 

Mr. Bloomfield, however misdirected we think his opinions to be, felt a duty, a higher calling, a passion for his serious subject matter.  Though not mentioned as much in this issue and other topics, it is obvious that the author was pressing others to realize how short time was before Christ’s return.  He also shows distress over the issue of false teachers who promoted wrong teaching, and for Christians with little real biblical knowledge. 

The information is dated in relation to Bloomfield’s examples:  Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, Nikita Krushchev, Vietnam.  According our prophetic editor’s writing in this issue, there is not much positive about, or in the world in 1964. He would not consider himself a voice of doom and gloom, however, but rather a voice of warning which urges that there is little time left to get right with God.  Arthur Bloomfield was definitely not a prophet who brought good tidings.  

1964 is now just shy of being 50 years ago.  Almost a half century has passed since Mr. Bloomfield’s prophetic message went out to readers. 

 

His topics include the following:

The problem alike in liberal ministers and many evangelical churches who teach nothing about Scripture, hold ineffective adult Bible classes, or just plain teach what is not biblically true.

The parable of the ten virgins, focusing on the five virgins with no oil for their lamps.

The lack of teaching of Scripture in relation to current events, or the fulfilling of Bible prophecy.

His forthcoming study written for Bible research groups which will be so difficult but true, and not many will want to complete the course.

Space Travel and Satan: “The modern movement that connects most closely with prophecy is the race to dominate the world.  This connects directly with Satan whose overriding ambition is to the god of this world.  It also connects with Satan’s realm, because it involves the control of the space above the earth.  Who controls the sky controls the earth.”

Bloomfield’s dislike of President Kennedy’s policies and like of President Johnson’s policies.

Vietnam, China, Cyprus and Russia (Soviet Union); Control of the world: “…but the Chinese are not content with that.  They are working on the Africans to unite them in a drive to overcome the white race and make the colored people supreme.”

Building of Israel and Palestine

The Greek Orthodox Church, the Pope, and misconceptions about the Rapture: “The so-called tribulation will not come until after the Rapture…”