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Summary: In a Christian society this ain't gonna be very poular...
Review: ....No one likes to hear about the possibility that theChristian faith is based in a foundation of lies and vestedinterests. Much less consider the inference posed by the possibility that God's personal representatives here on earth are no better than a lot of the crooks and dumbells, well-meaning or otherwise, in high places these days. John Hogue is one of the little-big guys around who have a very articulate way of pointing to the emperor, (Pope in this case) and drawing attention to fact that he's just plain buck naked. And hilariously so.
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Summary: The Future Is Still a Mystery
Review: I became interested in this book because of the reference to the prophecies of St. Malachy. I had never heard of this saint or his prophecies and I wanted to see if there is anything in them. Supposedly given to a twelfth century Irish saint in a vision, this sequence of one-line prophecies is said to describe each successive pope from the Middle Ages through today. Interest has been generated in these prophecies recently because there are only two left--meaning we are two popes away from Armageddon.I am not a big believer in prophecy, neither its accuracy or its usefulness except in the general sense of reminding people to repent for their sins. I am particularly wary of prophecies of the end of the world. Not only have all predictions of the end of the world been thus far wrong (and there have been many) but also Jesus himself said, "but of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Mark 13:32). If the Father did not reveal the time of the Day of Judgement to his Son, I find it hard to believe that He has or plans on revealing it to anyone else until it is upon us. This book did not do anything to change my feelings about the usefulness of accuracy of prophecy. As always, these prophecies (usually consisting of no more than three or four words) are twisted into shape to fit the popes that have so far come along--sometimes referring to heraldry, the pope's name, his birthplace, the deeds of his life, etc. If the prophecies had all referred to the same thing (such as heraldry), they would be much more convincing. But so much happens in a person's life that it is easy to make a few words fit anyone's life and certainly these few phrases have no useful predictive power. Here is where the book really falls flat. In analyzing the two prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled, Hogue offers us numerous interpretations--almost none of which come even close to hitting the mark. Writing in early 1998, Hogue was convinced John Paul II would be dead by 1999. Well, it is late 2001 and the old man is still going strong. None of what Hogue expected to be by this year has even remotely come to pass other than some general talk of floods, famines, wars, earthquakes, etc., which can fit almost any year in human history. What this book seem mostly to be is an opportunity to criticize the past 1000 years of the papacy. I have many criticisms of the papacy myself but this book is almost universally negative and, believe it or not, the papacy has generated some positive things in the world as well. In analyzing the popes of the twentieth century Hogue is a little fairer but, in the end, the papacy suffers. It's fun to wonder about the future but, all in all, I find this book to be useless beyond stirring the imagination a bit. Not a bad thing, but not enough.
Rating: 
Summary: I liked it.
Review: I don't believe everything I read, nor do I take at face value what is in this book, but measure up what I read with my beliefs. While I do not agree with everything that Mr. Hogue says, I found plenty of valuable information in the book I otherwise would not have known about, and recommend the book to those who can read it with similar discernment.
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Summary: Wishful Thinking
Review: I have no doubt that John Hogue (as well as some of the reviewers of his book) would love to interpret the prophecies attributed to St. Malachy as presaging the end of the universal or Catholic Church while having no implications for the rest of physical existence. However, a more careful analysis would seem to indicate that he is predicting, ultimately, the end of not only the Church Temporal but temporality itself, i.e., the end of time. For example, in the last prediction concerning Petrus Romanus, Malachy points out (translating from the Latin into English) that at the end of Peter's pontificate, the dreadful judge will judge his people. Although dreadful has come to mean something bad, unpleasant or even awful in contemporary English (particularly American English), its more traditional definition is closer to inspiring dread or fear (indeed the term awful originally meant something more like awe-inspiring). A reasonable inference is that the judge who inspires dread is God. Traditional, classical, pre-Protestant, pre-American, pre-Hogueian Christianity (i.e the faith of the fathers) teaches that ALL shall be judged by God (specifically in His Second Person)at the end of the world, not just the membership of the Catholic Church. There is no basis in scripture or Tradition for a belief in an antecedent, limited judgement applicable to Catholics exclusively. To summarize, if John Hogue and his fellow anti-Catholics look forward to the day when St. Malachy's prophecy is fulfilled and those pesky Catholics are finally out of the way, on that day they shall find themselves out of the way as well. But even then, they shall be confronted with the Church Triumphant.
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Summary: Interesting, Intruiging History
Review: John Hogue's book is well written and easily read. If you're a church history buff, the book an interesting interpretation of the papal line of succession since the 12th century. In the end one must conclude that St. Malachy did not really prophesy about these popes, but another seer with pretty fair accuracy did. Mr. Hogue evidently completed the book in early 1998, and in later chapters he expounds about the present pope, John Paul II, and his two future successors. In trying to interpret the future as forseen by "St. Malachy," Nostradamus, and others Mr. Hogue falls flat. Luckily for us, many of the things "predicted" for 1998, 1999, and 2000 have not come true! Mr. Hogue does approach the reputation of almost every pope since 1143 with emphasis on the worst. If you want to hear lots of "dirt" on these men, this is the book to read. This book serves to shed some much needed light on the real history of the Roman Catholic Church, and its possibly very limited future.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, Intruiging History
Review: John Hogue's book is well written and easily read. If you're a church history buff, the book an interesting interpretation of the papal line of succession since the 12th century. In the end one must conclude that St. Malachy did not really prophesy about these popes, but another seer with pretty fair accuracy did. Mr. Hogue evidently completed the book in early 1998, and in later chapters he expounds about the present pope, John Paul II, and his two future successors. In trying to interpret the future as forseen by "St. Malachy," Nostradamus, and others Mr. Hogue falls flat. Luckily for us, many of the things "predicted" for 1998, 1999, and 2000 have not come true! Mr. Hogue does approach the reputation of almost every pope since 1143 with emphasis on the worst. If you want to hear lots of "dirt" on these men, this is the book to read. This book serves to shed some much needed light on the real history of the Roman Catholic Church, and its possibly very limited future.
Rating:
Summary: Another Anti-Catholic Diatribe from Element Books
Review: Just look at some of the slections published by Element Books and you can see why nothing by them can be taken seriously. These titles incude: The Jesus Conspiracy: The Turin Shroud and the Truth About the Resurrection
The Elements of Gnosticism
The Illustrated Bloodline of the Holy Grail: The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed No wonder these items are in the New Age section of bookstores and not in Christianity.
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Summary: Where was the editor?
Review: This book would have been a lot better if the author had stuck to discussing the prophesies of St. Malachy (preferably in a scholarly rather than sarcastic tone). Instead he went off on a bizarre rant against the Catholic Church. It didn't seem to belong in this book. If he wanted to do a critique of the Catholic Church that should have gone in another book entitled "My Critique of the Catholic Church"...I'm not even Catholic and I found his critique offensive.
Rating:
Summary: A real Eye Opener
Review: Very interesting and informative history of the Catholic Church. It presents the true "spirit" of the church leadership and explains much about historic and current theological-governmental philosophies.
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