Podcast # 36 – What Time Is It? (Part One)

My name is Mark Stevens.  I am talking today with Allan Colston. He is the author of The Last Days of Tolemac, which is a book dealing with prophecy and other end-time events.

For those listeners who may be new to this topic, this is another in the series “Signs of the Times”.  I’d like to start by welcoming you to this Podcast Allan, and by saying how much I am looking forward to our discussion today.

Thanks very much Mark. The feeling is mutual.

Mark: If you don’t mind, I wondered if we could go back to our last conversation. You will remember that when you said that the world as we know it may be coming to an end, I followed this up with a question.

As I recall, you said that if this really was the case, then why us and why now?

Mark:  You have an excellent memory Allan. Anyway, you responded by saying that it was all about time. Now I have a further question to ask you, and that is: “If it is all about time, then what time is it?” Or to put this another way, how close are we to the time of the end?

That’s a great question Mark. In fact there are undoubtedly millions of people all around the planet who would love to know the answer to that question. But before I answer, let me ask you a question of my own. Why do you want to know?

Mark:  Well Allan, like so many other people who are alarmed by what they see going on in the world today, I not only want to know how this is all going to end, but also how much time we have left?

Fair enough Mark. But there’s a deeper aspect to my question. Suppose I tell you that we have, say, twenty-six months left before life as we know it will come to an end. What difference will that make? Will this change the way you live your life? Or will it make any difference at all?

Mark:  I guess I never really stopped to think about that.

This is a crucially important question Mark. The inescapable fact is that, whatever is about to happen on the earth, is going to happen no matter what we think about it. We cannot change that now. So the vital question then becomes, what can we do to prepare ourselves for what is about to happen?

Mark:  Well that depends on what sort of things are going to happen, and where.

Well the good news is that we are not left totally in the dark about this. There are clues about what will happen at the time of the end. These clues lie hidden in the words of prophecy, if we have the wit and the wisdom to find them and follow them.

When I first began these Podcasts with Scott Paton back in 2010, one of the first topics I discussed with him was this question of prophecy, and whether it was wise, or even possible, to know what would happen in the future. This is what I had to say at that time.

Most people who are guided by science tend to believe that life unfolds according to chance, based on forces that can never be understood, let alone predicted. They believe that any attempt to try to predict future events is sheer folly. These people are content to take each day as it comes.

But throughout history, there have been men and women who have claimed to be able to predict future events. This has especially been true within the various religions of the world. These individuals have come to be regarded as divinely inspired, and their predictions have been accepted as the ordained will of God.

We need to remember that prophecy is not simple prediction. And those who claim to be prophets do not do so merely to inform. They are not just telling an interesting story. All true prophecy stands as a warning. And those who hope to benefit from it must be prepared to act on these warnings.

So the purpose of all true prophecy is to inspire understanding, and reduce suffering. And this is the crucial point we need to understand Mark. It is not enough to understand prophecy. We have to be prepared to act on this understanding. Just knowing about it won’t save us from future suffering.

To illustrate my point, do you happen to recall the story that I wrote about in my Blog about Pope John Paul II and the enigmatic third prophecy of Fatima, in which he pointed out the dangers of knowing about what is coming without doing anything about it?

Mark:  I can’t say that I do. Perhaps you can refresh my memory.

Well just to recap, the prophecy itself dates back to a series of events that occurred over a century ago, at a place called Cova da Iria, near the village of Fátima in Portugal.

It was on 13th May 1917, when three young shepherd children claimed to have had a vision of a luminous angelic Being “brighter than the sun” whom they considered to be the Virgin Mary. The three children were Lúcia Santos and her two cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto.

Lúcia was just ten years old when these visionary events began. This same apparition appeared before the three children around noon on the 13th day of each of the next six months. According to Lúcia, this “lady” confided in her and her two cousins, and shared three “secrets” with them.

These secrets have come to be known as the “Three Secrets of Fatima”.

On 13th July, 1917, Lúcia said that the Blessed Mother had told her that her two cousins would die in the near future. This prophecy was fulfilled a short time later when they both succumbed to the Spanish influenza pandemic in 1918, leaving Lúcia as the sole surviving witness.

Not long after the death of her two cousins, Lúcia entered the Convent of St. Dorothy in Tuy, Spain. In March 1948 she left this Convent to join the Carmelite Order of St. Theresa at Coimbra in Portugal, where she continued to live until her death on February 13th, 2005 at the age of 97.

Being a Carmelite Sister, Lúcia Santos was required to observe the customary vow of silence. However, she did write out an account of the events that had occurred to her in 1917, together with a description of the three secrets given to her by the Angelic Being.

The first two secrets were revealed to the world by the Vatican in August 1941. The first secret was said to have been a vision of Hell. The second predicted the end of World War I, and announced that an even greater war would follow unless the people of Russia chose to repent and return to the path of God.

The third and most important secret given to Lúcia was supposed to have been revealed to the world by the Vatican in 1960, supposedly at the direction of the visionary Being herself. However, when the year 1960 arrived, the Church refused to do so.

And this brings me to the point I wanted to make. In October 1980, Pope John Paul II spoke to a select group of Catholics at a meeting in Fulda in Germany. At this meeting he was asked what the third secret contained, and why it had not yet been revealed to the world.

Mark:  Do we know what the Pope had to say about this?

Yes Mark we do, because a transcript of that meeting was later published in the German magazine Stimme des Glaubens. This is what Pope John Paul II was reported to have said in answer to this question:

“Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to carry out certain moves.

“On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired.

“Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil”.

At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God.” The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”

He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us the readiness to cast away even our lives, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ.

“With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed.

“How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.” (View Source)

It is worth repeating the Pope’s words here, when he said that “many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational”. But as he went on to warn, this knowledge also implies responsibility, and this is dangerous “if at the same time they are not disposed to do something”.

So even if we are successful in finding out what is about to happen Mark, this knowledge won’t help us unless it serves also to motivate us to change the way we live our lives. Fortunately, the Bible not only tells us what is going to happen, it also describes what we need to do about it as well.

Mark:  What does the Bible have to say about this?

When Jesus was asked by his disciples what signs to look out for in the days leading up to his return, he replied:

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be”. (Matthew 24:21) He also warned his disciples to be ready, because this tribulation would come suddenly, “like a thief in the night”. “Therefore be ye also ready. For in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh”. (Matthew 24:44)

As we can see from these words, Jesus warned his disciples that the end would come suddenly, at a time when no one was expecting it. Many would be unprepared. They would be caught unawares.

Unfortunately, most people in the world today are not ready. They remain completely unaware of the cataclysmic events that will shortly come to pass. They do not realise that they will be witnesses to the terror that is coming, and become the victims of the catastrophes that will follow.

And when these things do begin to happen, they will be the first ones who will cry out in anguish saying, why didn’t anyone warn us?

Jesus urged his followers to watch and pray. They needed to be constantly on guard for the time of the end, and pray always that they may be spared from the devastation of the Great Tribulation.

“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. And he spake to them a parable; behold the fig tree, and all the trees; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.

“So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

“For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”  (Luke 21: 28-36)

Jesus makes it clear that if we are to be counted worthy of escaping these disasters, we first have to live sacred and sober lives, and avoid the excesses of the flesh. And we must never allow the cares and responsibilities of this world to blind us from the warning signs of his return.

And that is why we also have to continually be aware of the events that are unfolding around us, so that we are not taken unawares, especially as Jesus warned his disciples that the great tribulation would come suddenly, “like a thief in the night”.

Mark:  So does the Bible give us any clues as to when this might happen, so we can get an idea that to look out for?

Obviously, the Bible does not give us any dates Mark, but it does give us clues about the events that will unfold at that time. And then it is up to us to try to figure out how much time we have left. But based on what I see going on in the world today, I would guess that we only have a few years left.

Mark:  Why do you say that Allan?

When Jesus was asked what sort of disasters would take place on the earth at the time of the end, he painted the scene in broad brushstrokes that left little to the imagination, as we can see from verses 10 and 11 of chapter 21 of the gospel of St. Luke:

“Then said he unto them, nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven”.

I think you can agree Mark, that many of these signs are already present in the world today, as can be seen from headlines in the daily news. But if Jesus merely outlined these events in general terms, it was his disciple John who spelled out the details in far more graphic terms.

In chapter six of his Book of Revelation, John described a scroll in God’s right hand that was sealed with seven seals. When these seals were opened, four beings were summoned forth to ride upon the world. Each being was seated on a horse of a different colour.

The first rider sat on a white horse. The second on a red horse. Then came a rider on a black horse. The final horseman rode a pale horse. Collectively, these four riders have come to be known in prophecy as “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”.

According to St. John, each of these four riders symbolized a different type of plague that would afflict the earth at the time of the Great Tribulation. The first of these was “pestilence” or disease. Then came war and conquest, followed by famine and death.

But as I have mentioned before Mark, the Bible makes it clear that the seven-year period of tribulation will begin with a single event. That event is described in chapter 8, verse 8, of the Book of Revelation, when “a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea”.

Mark:  So Allan, what do you think this verse refers to?

Well Mark, as I have explained in my Blog entry titled “The Day of the Lord”, I believe that this “great mountain burning with fire” refers to an asteroid. And for reasons I have described in my Blog, I am convinced that it will strike the ocean just west of the island of Puerto Rico.

The destruction caused by this asteroid will be far greater than any natural disaster in recorded history. To begin with, a succession of gigantic tsunamis will spread out across the open ocean in all directions from the impact site, at a speed of over 500mph (800kph), causing immense loss of life.

The first places to be affected will be Puerto Rico itself, along with all the other islands in the Caribbean. These tsunamis will then swamp all those countries bordering the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the entire East coast of the United States. They will also spread eastwards across the Atlantic ocean.

Countries like Belgium and the Netherlands will be completely engulfed in a matter of minutes, along with low-lying areas of Portugal, Spain, France and Germany. This will be the time when the Pope’s words will come to pass, when millions of people will perish “from one moment to the next”.

It will also bear out the prophecy of Edgar Cayce, when he said: “The earth will be broken up in the western portion of America. The greater portion of Japan must go into the sea. The upper portion of Europe will be changed as in the twinkling of an eye”.  (Reading 3976-15)

While the damage to shipping and property along the shores of these coastal regions will be beyond calculation, it will be nothing compared to the number of human casualties, which will rise to many hundreds of millions of people all around the world on that first day alone.

But of course it doesn’t end there. In the immediate aftermath of this catastrophic event, all those hundreds of millions of corpses of the victims will lie rotting in lakes and rivers and on what is left of the land, contaminating the water and leading to vast outbreaks of disease.

For as we have seen recently in the aftermath of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria, citizens who were forced to drink contaminated water faced a variety of potentially lethal diseases, ranging from cholera, fever and the plague, as well as flesh-eating disease.

For those unfortunate souls who survive this initial disaster, this will seem like the end of the world. But this will not be the end. It will merely be the beginning of seven years of tribulation that will lead to the death of billions of people around the planet. And then there will be the world-wide famine.

Mark:  So what do the prophets have to say about that?

Well, as I have already indicated Mark, in chapter 6 of the Book of Revelation, St. John refers to the four horsemen of the apocalypse, saying: “And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth”.

But we don’t need St. John to tell us that the world is in trouble. The signs of impending famine can be found all over the planet. I am talking here about desertification – the process whereby fertile land becomes desert, as a result of drought, deforestation and bad agricultural practices.

According to an economic analysis published recently by the United Nations Desertification Convention, severe land degradation is now affecting 168 countries around the world. According to this analysis, every year land degradation is wiping out an area three times the size of Switzerland.

And when you add to this the amount of agricultural land that is imperilled by the increase in ultra-violet radiation emanating from the sun that I wrote about in my Blog story about climate change, then you will see that we already have a potential world-wide calamity on our hands.

It also brings to mind some of the graphic quatrains penned by Nostradamus dealing with end-time events, such as:

Century One – Verse 67
The great famine which I sense approaching will often turn (in various areas) then become world-wide. It will be so vast and long lasting that (they) will grab roots from the trees and children from the breast.

Century Two – Verse 62
Mabus will soon die, then will come a terrible destruction of people and animals: Sudden vengeance will be seen, A hundred hands, thirst, famine, when the comet will pass.

Century Two – Verse 91
A great fire will be seen at sunrise, noise and light extending towards the north: Death within the earth, one will hear cries, Death awaits them through war, fire and famine.

Century Three – Verse 19
In Lucca it will rain blood and milk, shortly before a change of leader: Great plague and war, famine and drought will be seen, far from where the prince and ruler dies.

Century Three – Verse 42
A child born with two teeth in his mouth, stones will fall like rain in Tuscany: A few years after no wheat or barley, to satisfy those who faint from hunger.

Century Six – Verse 5
A very great famine caused by pestilence, will extend its length to the arctic pole: Samarobrin one hundred leagues from the hemisphere, They will live without law, free from government.

Mark:  I guess we don’t have to be linguistic scholars to understand what Nostradamus was writing about. So that brings me back to my question at the beginning of this Podcast. How close do you think we are to the time of the end?

Well I do have some thoughts about that Mark. As I have pointed out many times in previous discussions, I believe that the Middle East is the powder keg that will light the fires of tribulation. So it is to the Middle East that we need to look for a likely timetable of events.

Back in January of this year, you may recall that we had a conversation entitled “Hail to the Chief”. In that conversation I said that I thought that Donald Trump could well be the last President of the United States, and that his actions could lead to the destruction of America and the beginning of the Great Tribulation.

The test would be whether Trump followed through with his promise to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from its present location in Tel Aviv to the contested city of Jerusalem. And as we all know by now, he went ahead and announced his plan to do this earlier this month.

At the time, I said that if he did so, this would lead to a firestorm of opposition throughout the Arab and Islamic world that would be directed at Israel and America. And that could in turn lead to a unified movement determined to wipe out the nation of Israel once and for all.

We shall have to wait and see whether the predictable outcry from Moslem and Arab nations will lead to the sort of action that the Bible predicts. But what we can say with assurance is that from an end-time prophetic point of view, the countdown has begun.

How much longer we still have to wait depends on a variety of factors. There is much more that I would like to say on this subject Mark, but to do justice to it would take a lot more time, so do you mind if we leave this to our next Podcast?

Mark:  Not at all Allan. I appreciate everything that you have said so far, and look forward to our next discussion. You have been listening to Allan Colston, author of the book The Last Days of Tolemac.  Do join us for Part Two of our Podcast, which will be another in the series titled “Signs of the Times”.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 18th, 2024 at 9:27 pm and is filed under AUDIO, Signs of the Times, What Time Is It?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments and pings are closed.