From the Gospel of Matthew    9 

from the righteous, and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will 

weep and gnash their teeth.'   (Mt 13:47 50). 

    Again, it is clear that good and evil coexist on earth until a time when 

angels separate good from bad. The Church may be compared to the net, 

which gathers both good and bad. The Church on earth contains both good 

people and evildoers. Those members of the Church who do not repent from 

their evil deeds will be thrown into Hell. 

A Prophet in His Own Country (Mt 13:53 58) 

     And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.  

(Mt 13:58). 

    This teaching is true for many places and periods of time. When a person 

or a group of people have little faith in God, they can accomplish little of 

lasting value. When the people living in a particular place or time have little 

faith in God, He does fewer mighty works for them. 

The Loaves and the Fish  

    Yes, Jesus gave us a miraculous sign by providing food for a multitude of 

people from only a few loaves and fish. This sign was a miracle from God; a 

miracle with a meaning. And it happened twice.  

    In one miracle of the loaves and fish, 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish fed 

5,000 men. There were 12 baskets of pieces left over. Descriptions of this 

miracle are found in Matthew 14:13 21, Mark 6:30 44, Luke 9:10 17, and 

John 6:1 14. In the other miracle of the loaves and fish, 7 loaves of bread 

and a few small fish fed 4,000 men. There were 7 baskets of pieces left over. 

This miracle is described in Matthew 15:32 39 and Mark 8:1 21. 

    The miracles of the loaves were prophetic events; they tell us about the 

future of God's Holy Church. In the miracle described in Matthew 15:32 39, 

the seven loaves represent the seven parts of the Church. During the 2010's, 

the Church will have greater unity than it had before, but there will still be 

divisions between Protestants and Catholics, and between several Protestant 

denominations. During the first half of the Forty Years (A.D. 2000 to 2019), 

there will be some consolidation and some steps towards unity within the 

Church. 

    There are seven loaves because there will be seven main groups of 

Christians. The few small fishes perhaps represent a few small churches or 

groups which are not part of those seven. These are farther away from unity 

with the rest of the Church. 

    The crowd has nothing to eat. This means that there is a lack of food or 

an outright famine in many countries of the world (including Europe). This