From material sent via email to Despatch from Ed Tarkowski Sept. 17th
1996.
"An Invitation to Celebrate" ...Celebrate 2000 Report...Excerpts.
From...a book entitled "Celebrate 2000 Reflections on Jesus,
The Holy Spirit, and the Father"
written from the writings of Pope John Paul II.
"Now the second millennium is ending...and not surprisingly, the doomsday predictions are being resurrected. Some Christians speak of living in the last days, in the `Omega generation.' Others swap rumors about Marian apparitions hinting that the end is near. Even in non-Christian circles, speculation about the impending close of history has been fed by predictions from such diverse sources as an ancient Mayan calendar stone, the sixteenth-century writer Nostradamus, the twentieth-century psychic Edgar Cayce, and alleged recent contacts with extraterrestrial visitors. "In the midst of these troubled and troubling voices, a calmer, more optimistic voice calls out to focus attention on the year 2000. While others cry, `Repent - for the end is near.' Pope John Paul II declares, `Repent - for a new beginning has come!' While others prepare for doomsday, he calls the Church and indeed the whole world to prepare instead for the third millennium, with a burning hope that God the Father, through Christ and His Spirit, is still at work to renew His beloved creation. "The future, insists the Pope, holds remarkable possibilities for those who open themselves to the Holy Spirit's intentions. The year 2000 is actually a door of divine grace. If we will cross this `threshold of hope' into God's purposes, he says, we can take part in a `new springtime' that heralds transformation of ourselves, our Church, our nation, and our entire planet. "Confident in this hope, Pope John Paul II has announced that the Church will observe the year 2000 as a `Great Jubilee': a particular year of God's favor, a sign of His unfailing love, a season to remember and rejoice that two millennia ago, Christ came to set us free from the bonds of sin. Like all Jubilee years, it will be, `a year of remission os sins and of the punishments due them, a year of reconciliation between disputing parties, a year of manifold conversions and of sacramental and extra-sacramental penance.' The Pope wants the entire year to be celebrated exuberantly as an unprecedented birthday party for Jesus - and the whole world is invited to come...For that reason, the Pope calls us to make preparations. "The whole Christian community should enjoy the Great Jubilee as a feast that will nourish our spirits, put a song in our hearts, and send us out into the world dancing. Before that can happen for most of us, however, we have some work to do. It's time to give our souls a bath, to dress in our spiritual best, and to take into our hands the gift of our will, wrapped in a fervent desire to see Christ's Kingdom come" pp. 7-9
Ed Tarkowski's comments: I think it "amazing" that the title of the Pope's book is called by the same title as Jay Gary's organization [Celebration 2000], "Celebrate 2000", which is calling for a "Golden Jubilee" to be celebrated by the entire Church. The similarities don't stop there, but I want to discuss the above paragraphs. In my Home page writings, I describe how John Wimber said the Lord had told him that a season of "New Beginnings" was about to start and that He would pour out His Spirit like He did in the beginning (Pentecost). Here, again, we have another complementary idea, for Thigpen states, "Pope John Paul II declares, `Repent - for a new beginning has come!" We have documented on our Home Page how the original prayer for Wimber's promise of "New Beginnings" was really prayed by the Pope at the opening of Vatican II. The similarities don't stop there, Thigpen goes on, most likely unknowingly, to state that, "The whole Christian community should enjoy the Great Jubilee as a feast that will nourish our spirits, put a song in our hearts, and send us out into the world dancing" Where have we heard such ideas before? Through the Toronto Experience, the "revival" and the introduction of Davidic dancing into the Church. Since I covered these in files on the Home Page, I won't go into great detail about this here, but all of these aspects of the forming of the Global Church are interconnected..."
Ed's home page...
http://www.idcomm.com/sogrady/