Daniel's Second Beast BEAR = SOCIAL MEDIA: BP. BARRON SUGGESTS MANDATUM FOR LAY CATHOLIC SOCIAL MEDIA


And behold another beast like a bear stood up on one side: and there were three rows in the mouth thereof, and in the teeth thereof, and thus they said to it: Arise, devour much flesh. Dan.7.4        

The second Beast is Bear. 

BEAR = SOCIAL MEDIA (Microsoft + Facebook + Apple + Youtube + Twitter + Instagram Wikileaks + Google + Amazon's Alexa + Snapchat + WhatsApp etc...)  
    
Arise, devour much flesh...

For Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron, comparing the differences between now and 10 years ago, he believes the Church is in “a golden age of evangelization and apologetics.”

“This has been a tremendous boon to the Church and has aided our evangelical mission extraordinarily,” Bishop Barron said. “I’m old enough to remember the ancient period prior to social media, and I can only smile when I think of the lack of Catholic content then and how comparatively difficult it was to find materials, articles and basic information about Catholicism.”

Indeed, the social-media platforms have allowed Catholics across distances to collaborate on evangelization and share still images and live video to educate and engage people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Still, the bishop, who is on the tail end of the baby-boom generation, said the “jury is still out” on whether social media’s impact has seen the positive fruits outweigh the negative.

“I won’t gainsay anything I just said about the positive value of social media, but I also do not hesitate to observe just how awful they can be,” he said. “The vitriol, character assassination and just plain hatred that one comes across every day on the social media is massively disheartening.”

Bishop Barron noted that a person who wanted to send a “vitriolic missive to an editor” before the days of social media had to go through a lot of work that may have ended up with the editor just pitching the letter in the trash rather than publishing it.

“Today, anyone in his mom’s basement can dash off a hate-filled message and, with one press of a button, post it on social media, where it sits, unedited, for all the world to see,” he said, adding it can culminate in a mob-like mentality with “the collective goal of totally destroying the person.”

Bishop Barron noted the extremism of one side feeds into the extremism on the other side on social media. And in the Church, the bishop said, “this divisiveness has been exacerbated terribly by the social media” functioning as a scandal to people’s ability to embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Strengthening the Church’s Witness

Bishop Barron said he believes the bishops should consider exercising their authority in the digital sphere “just as John Paul II, in Ex Corde Ecclesiae, called for the bishops to exercise greater supervision of universities operating under the aegis of the Church.”

“There are, to be blunt, a disconcerting number of such people on social media who are trading in hateful, divisive speech, often deeply at odds with the theology of the Church and who are, sadly, having a powerful impact on the people of God,” he said.

“I do think that the shepherds of the Church, those entrusted with supervising the teaching office, can and should point out when people on social media are harming the Body of Christ.”

Bishop Barron suggested that it may be time for bishops “to introduce something like a mandatum for those who claim to teach the Catholic faith online, whereby a bishop affirms that the person is teaching within the full communion of the Church.”

At the same time, he encouraged the rising generation, “who have social media in their blood and their fingers,” to delve deeply into the Church’s intellectual and spiritual tradition and dedicate their use of these technologies.

Warner stressed that Catholics should look at both Benedict XVI’s and Pope Francis’ teachings on communications and make sure to take seriously both their encouragements and their cautions about social media and the need to uphold the dignity of the human person on these platforms.

Prejean said the key for her and others on social media will be finding that right balance, to know when to use it and, importantly, when to turn it off, keeping sight of the most important things in the life God has given them.e:

“Living life in front of you is always better, always better, than anything you will ever do online,” she said.

“I would also give the following spiritual advice,” Bishop Barron said. “Before you say or write anything on social media — whether you are publishing your own material or responding to someone else — ask this simple question: Do these words of mine constitute an act of love?” Source


Arise, devour much flesh......

Here is my take on the Four Beasts:

The Four beasts of Daniel are:

FIRST BEAST LIONESS WITH WINGS OF AN EAGLE = THE AIRLINE AND SPACE INDUSTRIES

1. The first was like a lioness, and had the wings of an eagle: I beheld till her wings were plucked off, and she was lifted up from the earth, and stood upon her feet as a man, and the heart of a man was given to her

SECOND BEAST BEAR = SOCIAL MEDIA (facebook twitter etc...)

2. And behold another beast like a bear stood up on one side: and there were three rows in the mouth thereof, and in the teeth thereof, and thus they said to it: Arise, devour much flesh.

THIRD BEAST LEOPARD = NATIONALISM OF THE FORERUNNER TO THE ANTICHRIST (HE WHO MURDERS THE FATIMA POPE WITH AN ARMY MADE UP OF MANY NATIONS)

3. After this I beheld, and lo, another like a leopard, and it had upon it four wings as of a fowl, and the beast had four heads, and power was given to it.

FOURTH BEAST = THE ANTICHRIST (THIS IS CHURCH DOCTRINE AS ALL FATHERS TESTIFY)

4. After this I beheld in the vision of the night, and lo, a fourth beast, terrible and wonderful, and exceeding strong, it had great iron teeth, eating and breaking in pieces, and treading down the rest with its feet: and it was unlike to the other beasts which I had seen before it, and had ten horns.

All four beast are different from one another - the third and fourth beasts are political in nature but different - the third being man-made nationalistic political authority and the fourth being man-made universal political authority.

I think this is in line with what the Church Fathers would say.

If you find fault in this let me know.

Arise, devour much flesh......

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