Lord of the World
Robert Hugh Benson
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars
4.06
· 16 ratings · 201 pages · Published: 1907
While giving a speech at the Catholic University of Milan on February 8, 1992, during which time he was head of the Congregation for the Doctine of the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger recommended that we read a book entitled "The Lord of the World" written in 1907 by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson .
The Holy Father cautioned us saying the world that President Bush had called for would implement:
"... a similar unified civilization and its power to destroy the spirit. The anti-Christ is represented as the great carrier of peace in a similar new world order."
Given his position in the Church it is not only astonishing, it is utterly incredible that Cardinal Ratzinger would say this and then point to Msgr. Benson's book . He knew well the sensational nature of the "The Lord of the World" and the danger posed by the New World Order called for by President Bush. It is impossible that the Holy Father was not warning us that we could actually be facing the times and the danger that Msgr. Benson had written about.
And we also have a startling comment made by Pope John Paul II when in 1976, as Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, he said,
"We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel and the anti-Gospel. This confrontation lies within the plans of divine providence. It is a trial which the whole Church . . . must take up."
There have always been confrontations between the Church and Her Gospel, but notice Cardinal Wojtyla did not say "another confrontation". He said " the final confrontation".
And in fact, Msgr. Benson's book is considered by many to be a prophetic novel in that he spoke of things not known in his day. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen described this book as one of the three greatest depictions of the advent of the demonic in World Literature.
It is also worth considering a reflection by Dennis L. Cuddy, Ph.D. who commented on the characters and events in Msgr. Benson's book and then the events that have transpired over the last 100 years. In April, 2005 he noted:
"Not only was Benson prescient in terms of writing about "the Volor" (a fast silent aircraft that could hover), but he also wrote: "In 1917...Communism really began....The new order began then....(After 1989) the final scheme of Western Free Trade.... Esotericism is making enormous strides---and that means Pantheism....Humanitarianism is becoming an actual religion itself. It is Pantheism....Patriotism has been dying fast....(There is) this European parliament....(They believe) cooperation is the one hope of the world....(There will be) the alliance of Psychology and Materialism....With the Release Act in 1998...(there were) the ministers of euthanasia....Julian Felsenburgh (Lord of the World) had a magnetic character...rising out of the heaving dun-coloured waters of American Socialism like a vision....Felsenburgh's running the whole thing now....It will mean free trade all over the world....(His) speech consisted of a brief announcement of the great fact of Universal Brotherhood....The new era has begun....Party must unite with party, country with country, and continent with continent....Felsenburgh was called the Son of Man...the Savior of the World....Persecution was coming....It involved all the stupendous force of Socialism directed by a brilliant individual....America was powerless: the balance of power was overwhelmingly against her....This appearance of peace has deceived many....The press was engineered with extraordinary adroitness....The world is one now, not many. Individualism is dead. It died when Felsenburgh became President of the World....For any one to say that they believe in God---it is high treason....The Humanity Religion was the only one. Man was God....No actual point of light breaking the appalling vault of gloom."
Cuddy goes on to say:
"Note how in 1907 Benson correctly described the Communist movement coming to the fore in 1917, the final scheme of Western Free Trade in 1989, and ministers of euthanasia (e.g., Dr. Jack Kevorkian) in 1998. Note also that Benson referred to "the stupendous force of Socialism," and that is why Cardinal Ratzinger's choice of the name Benedict XVI is of interest. The last Pope by that name, Benedict XV, on July 25, 1920 delivered an encyclical BONUM SANE, in which he warned: "The coming of a world state is longed for, by all the worst and most distorted elements. This state, based on the principles of absolute equality of men and
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