From: pol30546@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Peder Larsen)
Subject: Re: Fatima: warning or prediction
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1992 21:43:42 GMT

Eric James Ewanco <ewanco@MLO.DEC.COM> writes:

Remember ---  October 28, 1992 
	      (this spooks me just thinking about it)

>Every day should be lived as if the Lord
>were returning tomorrow.

	This is what I try to tell myself when I think about the End.

>A number of non-Fatima related prophesies have pointed to Pope John Paul II as
>the last pope before the return of Christ.  

	Could you elaborate on this please?

>It will be disappointing only getting to live out half my life here on earth,
>but boy! the reality I will have instead will be far more wonderful.

	Assuming this is true, the only thing I'll be wishing I didn't miss
would be having a wife to grow old with and having many children and 
grandchildren.  But thinking again, I'm sure that the instant I'm with Jesus,
the saints, and apostles in Heaven, this will not matter at all and all
humanly cares, wants and desires will be swept away.

>I am
>hoping that I will not die in the tribulation, but be taken up alive at the
>end of time.  Ah, to be one of the few who will not taste death . . .

	I haven't read all of the Revelation recently, but doesn't it say
something like how those who live through the tribulation will wish they
hadn't?  Doesn't it go something like this:  1) Some people are taken directly
up to Heaven  2) Remaining people live through a very bad time on Earth
3) At the end of this time, everyone is given a second chance - Jesus comes,
the dead rise and are judged, they go to Heaven or Hell.  The End on Earth.
	What happens to people who died before the tribulation (I hope I'm 
getting the terminology correct)?  They rise and are judged with the people
who are alive at the start of the tribulation?  Does this mean that nobody
is in Hell now, they are in a state of limbo, waiting to be judged?  Also,
is no one in Heaven, except the Saints?
	I ask myself these questions very often because I have a few Jewish
and Muslim friends and I worry about them constantly.  I pray that they will
be given a second chance right before the Second Coming.  I also pray for
the millions of non-Christians in the world - and I struggle with the question
of whether I should be doing more to help them.  I also had a friend who
died before his high school graduation and he was an atheist.  Is there any
hope for him?  This last question tormented me for weeks, and I still have
no answer.
							Caritas,
							Peder

p.s. - Other versions I have heard: 1) Dead rise 2) Some people go straight
to Heaven (including some who just rose) 3) Several years occur of "hell
on Earth"  4) Jesus comes and all are judged.   Do the people have to prove
their worthiness to be saved while they are still alive?  (In other words,
the dead rise to be given a second chance, but can they be killed again
before they can change their ways?)
	I have also heard that during this "hell on Earth" time, the church
becomes corrupted and is evil.  So John Paul could be the last before the
tribulation begins.
	Any replies or preferably posts would be appreciated.
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