Is Jesus Coming Soon?: A Catholic Perspective on the Second Coming

by Ralph Martin

Is Jesus Coming Soon? provides a Catholic perspective on a subject generating increasing interest in today's world. Based on Catholic spriptural and theological studies, Martin's work is nonetheless easily accessible to all.

Genres: Catholic

178 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1997

About the author

Ralph Martin has been a leader in renewal movements in the Catholic Church for many years. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame, he did graduate work in philosophy at Princeton University and holds an MA in Theology from Sacred Heart School of Theology in the Archdiocese of Detroit, a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., and a Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.) from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (the “Angelicum”) in Rome. He worked for a number of years for the National Office of the Cursillo Movement and subsequently became a leader in the national and international development of the charismatic renewal movement in the Catholic Church. He was the founding editor of New Covenant Magazine, as well as the founding director of the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Office, currently located in Rome.

Currently, Ralph is president of Renewal Ministries, an organization devoted to Catholic renewal and evangelization (www.renewalministries.net). Ralph is also the host of “The Choices We Face” a widely viewed weekly Catholic television and radio program distributed throughout the world. Renewal Ministries is accountable in its work to a Board of Directors in the United States, which Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis, serves as Episcopal Advisor, and to a Board in Canada that Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto, serves as Episcopal Advisor. Renewal Ministries is also actively involved in assisting the Church in more than 30 different countries through leadership training, evangelistic conferences and retreats, and the publication and distribution of Catholic resources.

Ralph is also an associate professor and Director of Graduate Theology Programs in the New Evangelization at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in the Archdiocese of Detroit (www.shms.edu) and a Visiting Professor of Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. He was named by Pope Benedict XVI as a Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization and was also appointed as a “peritus” to the Synod on the New Evangelization in October of 2012.

He and his wife Anne have six children and 14 grandchildren and reside in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE CATHOLIC CHARISMATIC RENEWAL LEADER LOOKS AT THE RETURN OF JESUS

Ralph Martin has been a leader in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal for many years; he has written many books, such as 'The Catholic Church at the End of an Age: What is the Spirit Saying?,' 'Will Many Be Saved?: What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization,' 'The New Evangelization: What It Is and How It Affects the Life of Every Catholic,' 'The Fulfillment of All Desire,' 'A Crisis Of Truth: The Attack On Faith, Morality, And Mission,' etc.

He wrote in the Introduction to this 1997 book, "The core of this book was first published in 1983 [as Return of the Lord and was well received at that time. It is now being published in a revised version with an additional chapter that attempts to provide an orientation to the explosion of the supernatural that seems to be taking place as we approach the millennium.

"Why this book? Why now? Each year as the Advent season approaches ... I long to hear something about these 'final things,' but more often than not I do not. Despite the centrality of the Second Coming to the Catholic faith... Catholics by and large are amazingly ignorant about this important reality, this completion of the gospel message... Thus, this book." (Pg. 7)

He adds, "Another reason ... is that there is clearly an acceleration of the supernatural in our time, whether it be by Marian apparitions or Pentecostal prophecy that often speaks of impending events that are sometimes interpreted as preludes to the Lord's return. Discernment is necessary. Prophecy should not be despised but should be tested... discernment and testing are necessary if we are not to be misled or develop a Christian life that is imbalanced." (Pg. 8)

He notes, "While Scripture clearly says that the exact time or hour of the Lord's coming cannot be known and will not be revealed to man, it does shed some light on the matter, as a help for Christians being 'awake' and alert to his coming. First of all, it indicates that certain events need to take place before Jesus' return. Second, it points out some conditions that will prevail in the world and among God's people just before his coming and that will serve as proximate warnings to those who are alert to them." (Pg. 61)

He acknowledges, "it is certainly significant that the Jewish people are now back in the Holy Land and since 1947 reconstituted as a nation for the first time since the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and their own dispersal (predicted by Jesus as a sign of God's judgment on them for rejecting him). It is also significant that since 1967 Jerusalem has been under their control.

"At the same time, let us bear in mind that Israel is a very secular state, with vast numbers of its citizens not even practicing seriously the Jewish faith... It appears that the full number of Gentile Christians has not been reached, although the time of the Gentiles may be coming to an end, and that God has also begun to set the scene for a significant dealing with Israel." (Pg. 62-63)

He suggests after quoting Lk 18:8 ["when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on the earth?"], "Has the mass apostasy occurred? Is it occurring now? Certainly many statistical measurements of the state of the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, and many of the Reformation Protestant churches would lead one to wonder." (Pg. 70) He adds, "The Church in many parts of the world is already living through days of great tribulation." (Pg. 77)

After quoting 1 Thess 4:13-17, he observes, "Some evangelical Protestants have referred to this event as 'the rapture.' It is not unreasonable to hold that this passage does not intend to describe the exact way living Christians will meet Christ---that is, in the air and in the clouds. On the other hand, neither do I think it unreasonable to believe that the end will happen exactly as it is described. I am inclined to the latter view, because Paul is so specific in this text, because he speaks elsewhere about being caught up into heaven and shown special things by God (2 Cor 12:12), and because this passage is consistent with the specific parallels drawn by the angels between Jesus' Ascension and his return in glory." (Pg. 81-82)

He argues, "This upsurge in prophetic activity and the manifestation of charismatic gifts of the Spirit in both Catholic and Protestant churches is unprecedented... since the early days of the Church. In the Catholic Church the Marian form of a major stream of prophetic activity is also unprecedented in its frequency and extent. Much of this prophetic activity speaks of very critical years ahead of us involving purification, tribulation, possible chastisement, as well as a great outpouring of grace and mercy on the world, ushering in either the return of Jesus himself or at least a 'new springtime of Christianity.'" (Pg. 149-150)

Catholics---and not just those in the "renewal" movement---wanting to know more about the "end times" doctrines will be interested in this book.

[Bobby Chastain · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book covers a topic rarely spoken of from the Catholic pulpit. Priests generally have their reasons for not delving too much into end-time prophetic interpretation, however the church still holds a strictly-biblical perspective on the issue. This book summarized that view.