We are now in the season known to Roman Catholics as Advent. I had never heard of Advent until I went to live in Munich, Germany, where I was told that Advent is a celebration of Christ’s second coming. His first coming, I was told, was the First Advent; and Advent celebrates His Second Coming.

Secular sources describe Advent thus:

Christ’s second coming on earth, on Judgment Day: also called Second Advent.

Websters Universal Unabridged Dictionary

1. The birth of Christ.

2. The Second Advent. See Second Coming.

Second Coming: The return of Christ as judge upon the last day; milliennium. Also called “Second Advent.”

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

2. The coming of Christ into the world.

3. The penitential period beginning four Sundays before Christmas, commemorating this.

4. (usually Cap.) See Second Coming.

Second Coming: The coming of Christ on Judgment Day.

Random House College Dictionary

The principle problem with these definitions is that they all purport that the Lord Jesus will return on Judgment Day, when in fact, according to the Holy Bible, the Lord will return on the last day of the Great Tribulation. Judgment Day, as anyone who reads and understands his Bible knows, will occur after the thousand-year reign of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth. 

But there are greater problems with Advent, which are revealed by the Roman Catholic Church’s definition of Advent:

“The season or time of year leading up to Christmas. The word advent means coming, and during Advent we are waiting for the coming of Jesus Christ. Advent begins on the Sunday nearest St. Andrews Day, November 30, and ends at midnight, December 24. The first Sunday of Advent is the first day of the ecclesiastical year. See year, ecclesiastical.

Advent is the first liturgical season of the Church calendar. During Advent the Church, through its prayers, Gospels, etc. shows the Jewish world waiting for the Messias, the Redeemer who was to save man from his sins. Advent is a period of penance, though not so much a period of penance as Lent. The Redeemer has not yet come, and only by penance, can the way be prepared for Him.”

A Practical Catholic Dictionary, p. 16

It is important to understand that A Practical Catholic Dictionary has the imprimatur of Francis Cardinal Spellman, at the time the archbishop of New York, and the highest Roman Catholic in America. This means that it has the approval of the Vatican, and its views are considered accurate by the Roman Catholic Church.That Roman Catholics are “waiting for the coming of Jesus Christ” either implies that they don’t believe He came, or that He came, but didn’t redeem mankind. That the Roman Catholic Church believes “the Redeemer has not yet come” would seem to imply that the latter is the case. If the Redeemer has not yet come, then God is a liar, for His Word says that the Lord Jesus is the Redeemer:

“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou [the Lord Jesus] art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation…”

Revelation 5:9

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”

Galatians 3:13

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

Titus 13-14

To say that the Redeemer has not yet come is to deny that Jesus was the Redeemer. And to deny that Jesus was the Redeemer is to deny that Jesus is the Christ. This is blasphemy.

It is not strange that the Roman Catholic Church would say that the Lord Jesus is not the Redeemer, as the Roman Catholic Sacrament of Penance denies the Atonement of the Lord Jesus. Moreover, Pope Francis, at a homily given during his 2015 visit to the United States, blatantly called Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross a dismal failure.

This new revelation is but further proof that the Roman Catholic Church is not the true Church of Jesus Christ. 

In rejecting the Lord Jesus as the Redeemer, Roman Catholics are like the Jews, who reject the Lord as the Messiah, and reject His atoning Sacrifice. Since they deny the Atonement, Roman Catholics must find a way to atone for their sins. This is the purpose of penance, which the romish church describes as:

“Prayers or good works required of the penitent by the priest who has heard his confession. This penance satisfies in part for the sins confessed. See satisfaction for sin.”

A Practical Catholic Dictionary, p. 170

The belief that penance “satisfies in part” for sins implies that the Lord Jesus did not atone for sin. This, of course, is blasphemy, because the Bible says:

“[W]e also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the Atonement.”

Romans 5:11

Penance is similar to the Old Testament practice of offering a sin sacrifice to temporarily atone for sin, until the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord offered Himself on the cross, He made one offering for sin forever, and did away with works. We no longer have to “do anything” to have our sins forgiven. We need only accept the sacrifice of Jesus as full payment for our sins, confessing our sins to Him (NOT to a priest). This is the basis of the New Testament Church. 

But the Jews denied the Lord Jesus, and continue to keep the Old Testament law while they await the coming of another Christ who will permanently redeem them from sin. Of their rejection of Him, the Lord Jesus told the Jews:

“I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.”

John 5:43

With these words, the Lord Jesus prophesied that having rejected Him as the Christ, the Jews would accept another as the Christ. But that other Christ would not be sent of God. You did know that there is another Christ didn’t you?

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, whom ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.”

2 Corinthians 11:3-4

The other Jesus is a false Christ, a false redeemer whom God did not send: the Antichrist. As Roman Catholics also reject Jesus as their Redeemer, they, too are waiting for the false Christ to come and redeem them. This is the true purpose of Advent: for Roman Catholics to do penance and pray for the coming of the Antichrist.

“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? It is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son.”

1 John 2:22

The truth shall make ye free.